CornBelters begin final homestand with loss to Otters

Posted on August 31, 2016

By WJBC Staff

NORMAL – The Normal CornBelters dropped the opener of the season’s final homestand, 12-5, to the Evansville Otters on Tuesday night at the Corn Crib.

The Otters started the scoring with a line drive two-run homer to left field by Denzel Richardson with nobody out in the second inning.

The CornBelters tied the contest in the third inning with a two-out rally on singles from Nolan Meadows and Dillon Haupt followed by a two-RBI double by Dylan Kelly that fell in amid confusion between the center and right fielders.

Evansville answered with a pair of runs in the fourth as Chris Sweeney led off with a walk and scored on a double to the right field corner by Kolten Yamaguchi, who took third on the throw home and scored on a sacrifice fly to deep right center by Josh Allen for a 4-2 lead.

The Otters added a run in the seventh with a lead-off single by Yamaguchi, who finished his circuit around the bases with a fielder’s choice, a stolen base and a wild pitch.

The Belters loaded the bases in their seventh and scored one run on a balk but could not drive in anything else to trail 5-3 going to the eighth inning.

The Otters’ Nik Balog pounded the first pitch of the eighth halfway up the right field lawn followed by a two-run homer to left by Sweeney and a bases-loaded triple by Chris Breen to increase the lead to 11-3.

The CornBelters got two of the runs back in their eighth when Jacoby Middleton led off with a base hit, took second on a fielder’s choice and scored on a double by Ty Morris, who was driven in by a Santiago Chirino single to cut the margin to 11-5.

Evansville added insurance in the ninth with a two-out RBI double by Yamaguchi.

Matt Wivinis (4-0) earned the win with five innings of work, giving up two earned runs on seven hits with two walks and five strikeouts. Max Homick (4-6) took the loss with five-plus innings, giving up four earned runs on four hits with five walks, two hit batsmen and five strikeouts.

The series continues Wednesday at 6:35 p.m. at the Corn Crib as the Belters send Horacio Acosta (9-3, 3.39 ERA) to the mound against the Otters’ Shane Weedman (6-3, 3.52) in a match-up of righthanders. The game can be heard live on WJBC.com with pregame beginning at 6:20.

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