By Mike Rains
FLORENCE, Ky. – The Normal CornBelters captured their fourth straight win with an 8-3 victory over the Florence Freedom on Friday night at UC Health Stadium.
The CornBelters lit up their offense right away as Pat McKenna drove a two-run homer just inside the left field foul pole with one out in the first inning.
The Belters plated two more in the third inning when Cameron Monger led off with a towering homer to left, and Sam Judah knocked home Mark Micowski after the latter singled and stole second.
Normal increased the lead to 5-0 by loading the bases and scoring on a sacrifice fly to left field by Aaron Dudley. A bomb over the left center field from Richard Lucas gave the Belters a 6-0 with their third home run of the night to lead off the eighth inning, and the guests added another tally when Santiago Chirino walked, took second on a wild pitch and third on a passed ball then scored on a fielder’s choice by Monger.
The Freedom finally rang a number onto the board with a solo home run to left by Austin Newell in the eighth inning, but the Belters provided insurance in the ninth with consecutive one-out doubles by Judah and Dudley.
Florence led off the ninth with a home run to left by Sam Eberle plus an RBI pinch-hit single by Michael Pair to complete the scoring.
Kevin Brahney (3-0) tossed seven strong innings for the win, giving up three hits with one walk and seven strikeouts. Coleman Stephens (2-2) sustained his second straight loss.
The series continues in suburban Cincinnati on Saturday with a 5:05 p.m. Central first pitch as the CornBelters send right-hander Kevin Jefferis (1-0, 1.93 ERA) to the mound. The Freedom counter with righty Alan Carey in his professional debut. Pre-game on WEZC-FM 95.9 and WJBC.com with a listen-live link on www.normalbaseball.com is at 4:50.
