CornBelters tie game late, but lose in ninth to Grizzlies

Posted on July 25, 2015

By Greg Halbleib

NORMAL – The Normal CornBelters tied the game in the eighth inning but lost on a ninth-inning home run as the Gateway Grizzlies prevailed 3-2 on Friday night at the Corn Crib.

The Grizzlies broke open an early pitchers’ duel in the fourth inning with the first two hitters reaching base on singles and advancing on a wild pitch, followed by a sacrifice fly by Tyler Tewell for the game’s first run. Richard Seigel homered just over the right center field fence to lead off the fifth inning to advance the guests’ lead to 2-0.

The CornBelters finally broke through in the eighth inning when Jason Merjano and Cameron Monger led off with singles with each advancing a base on the throw to the diamond. Merjano scored on a ground out by Santiago Chirino and Aaron Dudley drove in Monger with a single up the middle to send the game to the ninth inning tied at 2-2.

The Grizzlies grabbed the victory with two outs in the ninth inning as Normal West High School graduate Blake Brown lined a home run just over the left center field fence off losing pitcher Race Parmenter (1-2).

Scott Harkin (2-3) earned the win in relief. Tyler Thompson allowed a ninth-inning runner but picked up his third save.

The teams square off again on at 6:35 p.m. on State Farm Saturday with half-price box seats for State Farm employees and policyholders. Right-hander Robert Baroniel (0-1, 2.93 ERA) starts for Normal and lefty Dillon Haviland makes his professional debut for Gateway.

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