CornBelters close homestand with rain-shortened win

Posted on June 8, 2015

By WJBC Staff

NORMAL – The Normal CornBelters captured the finale of their home stand with a 7-6 rain-shortened win on Sunday at the Corn Crib.

The Belters grabbed an early lead on a grand slam by Richard Lucas high onto the left field berm with one out in the opening inning, then added two more runs in the second inning on a single by Cameron Monger past a drawn-in infield to plate Jason Merjano and a double to the left field corner by Pat McKenna to score Merjano and give the hosts a 6-0 lead.

The Miners reached Belters starter Kevin Johnson in the second time through the order, plating three runs in the fourth inning on RBIs from Wendell Fairley and Niko Vasquez with another run scoring on a throwing error to trim the Normal lead to 6-3.

The CornBelters got one of the runs back in the fourth on a bases-loaded walk to Aaron Dudley to build their lead to 7-3. The Miners answered as rain began in the top of the top of the sixth with a lead-off home run by Frank Martinez followed by doubles from Wendell Fairley, Niko Vasquez and Steve Marino to cut the deficit to one, but the downpour began after the Marino hit and the game was called approximately 45 minutes later.

Kevin Johnson (2-1) received the win while Miners starter Miguel Ramirez (1-4) received the loss.

The Belters take Monday and Tuesday off before beginning a six-game road trip on Wednesday, starting with a 5 p.m. doubleheader at Evansville. Both games will be on WJBC.com

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