Slammers pound CornBelters to even mid-week series

Posted on July 23, 2015

By WJBC Staff

NORMAL – The Normal CornBelters were hit early and often on Wednesday night in a 16-2 loss to the Joliet Slammers at the Corn Crib.

The Belters fell behind early in the first inning when Slammers shortstop Alfredo Rodriguez hit a two-run triple. Mike Garza brought in Rodriguez on the next at-bat to give the Slammers a 3-0 lead.

The Slammers added to their early lead in the second inning when Nate Roberts hit an RBI single to bring in Max Casper and push the lead to 4-0.

Belters starter Kevin Brahney (4-4) pitched two innings before being pulled. Brahney finished with eight hits, two walks and one strikeout while giving up seven runs (five earned).

The Slammers continued pouring onto the Belters in the third inning when Sam Klein hit out to left field where Ozney Guillen committed an error allowing in two runs. Jack Cleary came home on a passed ball. Charlie White hit an RBI single. Carlos Lopez hit a sacrifice fly bringing in Casper. Garza hit a three-run RBI triple to left field pushing the Slammers lead to 12-0, scoring eight times in the frame while batting 12 men.

The Belters put a run up on the board in the fifth inning when Sam Judah came home on a fielder’s choice by Cameron Monger trimming the Slammers lead to 12-1.
Mark Micowski gave the Belters their second run of the night in the sixth inning after hitting a triple and scoring on a fielder’s choice by Santiago Chirino to cut the deficit to 12-2.

The Slammers added to their lead in the eighth inning when Phil Bates came home on a passed ball. Cleary came home on an error as well. The first earned run came in when Hunter Ridge hit an RBI single to bring in Sam Klein. Nate Roberts hit an RBI double to bring in the final run, giving the Slammers a 16-2 lead.

Slammers starter Andrew Strenge’s (5-5) night ended after seven innings. Strenge threw a two-hitter with two walks while striking out six.
The CornBelters (32-24) fall into a tie for the Frontier League West Division lead with Rockford and face off with the Slammers (23-33) in the rubber match on Thursday night at 6:35. Broadcast time on WJBC.com is 6:20.

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