By WJBC Staff
NORMAL – The Normal CornBelters were aided by late game heroics from Sam Judah and Ozney Guillen in a four-run eighth inning on Wednesday night in a 8-7 win over the Florence Freedom.
The Freedom got on the board first in the first inning when Belters starter Rob Blanc walked Collins Cuthrell to bring Zac Mitchell across home plate and give the Freedom a 1-0 lead.
The Belters retaliated in their half of the inning when Aaron Dudley hit a solo homer to the right field berm tying the game 1-1.
In the second inning, Mitchell hit an RBI single to bring in Mason Salazar and give Florence a 2-1 lead.
The Belters reacted in similar fashion as the previous inning when Ozney Guillen hit a deep bomb to center field tying the game back up at 2-2.
In the third inning, the Freedom regained the lead on a sacrifice fly from Collins Cuthrell to drive in Sam Eberle giving the Freedom a 3-2 lead.
In the fourth inning, the Freedom separated themselves from the Belters when Austin Newell hit a three-run homer to make the score 6-2.
Belters reliever Chandler Jagodzinski came out to relieve Blanc at the start of the fifth inning. Blanc finished the night with four innings pitched, eight hits, one homer, three walks and one strikeout.
The Belters cut into the Freedom lead in the fifth inning when Ozney Guillen scored on a Santiago Chirino single to make the score 6-3.
In the sixth inning the Belters continued on the comeback trail when Pat McKenna hit an RBI single to drive in Dudley and cut the Freedom lead to 6-4.
Freedom starter Jeremy Gooding ended his night in the fifth inning. Gooding threw five and one-third innings allowing six hits, two homers, two walks and struck out eight.
In the eighth inning, the Freedom added to their lead with an RBI single from Steve Carillo to push their lead to 7-4.
The Belters pushed back in their half of the inning when Richard Lucas drove Santaigo Chirino in. Sam Judah hit a two-run RBI single to drive in the tying runs. Guillen hit a double to drive in pinch runner Ty Morris and give the Belters their first lead of the night at 8-7.
Jagodzinski (2-4) worked four relief innings for the win. Race Parmenter earned the save for the Belters extending his team single-season record to 16. Ethan Gibbons (0-2) suffered the loss.
The Belters (43-31) extend their lead in the Frontier League West to two games over Rockford and River City with their sixth straight win. The Belters and the Freedom (34-40) finish the series out on Thursday night at 6:35 p.m. The Belters send righty Kevin Jefferis (1-0, 3.29 ERA) to the mound while Florence will have left-hander Patrick McGrath (1-1, 1.69). Broadcast time on WJBC.com is 6:20.
