By Carie Kuehn
NORMAL – The Normal CornBelters couldn’t overcome an early deficit and gave up the final game of the series 4-1 to the Florence Freedom for the sweep on Sunday evening at the Corn Crib.
The Florence Freedom wasted no time offensively. Normal starter Chris Carmain started the game by walking leadoff batter Daniel Fraga, and a single to center from Andrew Godbold advanced him to third. The throw back in allowed Godbold to advance to second and put two in scoring position for the Freedom. Collins Cuthrell hit a three-run blast to left center and cleared the bases, and the Freedom ended the first with a 3-0 lead.
The Belters made a comeback effort in the second half of the first with a leadoff single from Ricky Claudio. After stealing second, Claudio was thrown out at third on a grounder from Chirino, who remained at first. Aaron Dudley walked to put two on base, and Nolan Meadows chopped one past second base to score Chirino and put the score at 3-1.
The CornBelters were unable to gain anymore ground through the next four innings, even with base runners in each of them. The Freedom extended their lead in the top of the sixth with a leadoff double from Tyler Oldham, who scored on a single from Austin Newell to put the score at 4-1.
The winning pitcher was Freedom’s Ben Allison (1-0) who went five innings, allowing five hits, one run, two walks and one strikeout. Chris Carmain (2-5) took the loss, twirling eight innings and allowing six hits, four runs, and striking out eight.
The Frontier League goes into the All-Star break, with the events taking place in Florence, Kentucky. The CornBelters resume play Friday, June 15th when they travel to Windy City to take on the ThunderBolts.
