CornBelters crush Grizzlies in home opener

Posted on May 20, 2015

By Greg Halblieb

NORMAL – The Normal CornBelters surged to 3-1 on the young season while keeping the Gateway Grizzlies winless in a 9-2 decision on CEFCU Opening Night Tuesday at the Corn Crib.

The CornBelters broke onto the scoreboard first with a pair of runs in the second inning. Ozney Guillen led off the frame with a flare double to the left field line, then went to third on a fielder’s choice and scored on a sacrifice fly to left by Dylan Kelly. Cameron Monger followed up with a solo home run that just cleared the left field fence.

The Belters added a run in the third with two outs when Santiago Chirino doubled to the left field corner to score Guillen from second base.

Normal exploded in the fifth inning as the first six hitters reached base off Gateway starter Dejai Oliver on five hits and an error, knocking him out of the contest. The Belters batted 10 men in the frame with RBI hits coming from Aaron Dudley, Richard Lucas and Chirino to grab an 8-0 lead.

The Grizzlies clubbed solo homers in the sixth and seventh innings by Blake Brown and Rolando Gomez to cut their deficit to 8-2.

The Belters added insurance in the eighth when Mark Micowski led off with a walk, advanced to third on a double by Pat McKenna and scored on a ground out by Sam Judah.

Kevin Brahney (1-0) worked five shutout innings for the win, giving up four hits while striking out five without a walk. Oliver (0-1) took the loss.

The Belters host the Grizzlies for a School Day game on Wednesday with a 10:05 a.m. first pitch. Right-hander Chris Carmain (1-0) is scheduled to start for the CornBelters while the Grizzlies plan to start righty Max Schonfeld (0-0).

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