MARION, Ill. – The Normal CornBelters homered twice and won their third straight game with a 3-2 triumph over the Southern Illinois Miners on Saturday night at Rent One Park.
The CornBelters again scored in their first time at the plate as Santiago Chirino homered to left field for an early 1-0 lead.
The Miners found a two-out equalizer in the third inning with an RBI single by Alex DeLeon.
Chirino collected his second RBI of the game in the fifth inning for a 2-1 Belters lead with a double to right center field, scoring Michael Skoller, who reached with a lead-off walk.
Southern Illinois quickly tied the contest in the bottom of the fifth when Aaron Gates led off with a triple to the right field corner and scored on a Julius Gaines ground out.
The Belters took their third lead of the game in the top of the eighth via a lead-off home run over the right field bullpen by Ty Morris.
Horatio Acosta (3-1) picked up the win with two innings in relief of starter Vince Apicella, who worked five innings in his professional debut with two runs (earned), four hits, three walks and three strikeouts. Evan Mott (1-1) took the loss in relief. Francisco Carillo worked the final two innings and struck out five Miners for his first save.
The series concludes Sunday with a 5:05 p.m. contest in Marion as the Belters send Mike Schweiss (2-2, 2.00 ERA) to the mound while the Miners counter with Josh Kimborowicz in a match-up of right-handers. Broadcast time on WJBC.com is 4:50 with listen live links found on CornBelters social media and www.normalbaseball.com.
