CornBelters come from behind in 9th to beat Miners

Posted on July 4, 2015

MARION – The Normal CornBelters, presented by Illinois Corn Farmers, scored three runs in the ninth inning to come from behind and collect their fifth straight win, a 4-2 decision over the Southern Illinois Miners on Friday night at Rent One Park.

The Miners opened the scoring in the second inning on a lead-off double by Frank Martinez and an RBI single by Jerrud Sabourin. The CornBelters countered with an RBI single by Santiago Chirino in the third inning, scoring Mark Micowski.

Both teams failed to produce in the middle innings with the bases loaded as the Miners came up empty in the third inning and the Belters packed the basepaths with nobody out in the fourth and fifth innings and did not score.

The Miners broke the tie in the sixth by loading the bases again beginning with a lead-off walk to Martinez, who scored on a ground out by Brendan Slattery.

The CornBelters surged ahead in the ninth inning as Cameron Monger led off with a double, stole third and scored the tying run on a base hit by Micowski. Chirino was hit by a pitch and stole second after Micowski went to third on a wild pitch, and Aaron Dudley flared a two-out single to center to score the go-ahead runs.

Horatio Acosta (4-0) earned the win in relief while Pete Perez (1-1) suffered the blown save and the loss.

Micowski singled in the first inning to extend his hitting streak to 20 games, tying the CornBelters franchise record set by Daniel Cox in 2011.
The series continues in Marion on Saturday at 7:05 p.m. as the Belters plan to start right-hander Robert Baroniel in his first professional appearance. The Miners have not announced Saturday’s starter. Broadcast on WEZC-FM 95.9 and WJBC.com with a listen link at www.normalbaseball.com begins at 6:50.

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