Early runs hold up as CornBelters win 9th straight

Posted on August 7, 2016

*Series finale against the Traverse City Beach Bums in Michigan Sunday afternoon (WJBC File Photo)*

By Greg Halbleib

TRAVERSE CITY, Mich. – The Normal CornBelters, presented by Illinois Corn Farmers, put a pair of runs on the board in the second inning and made them hold up for their ninth straight win, 3-1 over the Traverse City Beach Bums on Saturday night at Wuerfel Park.

The CornBelters struck first by loading the bases with two walks and a single followed by a two-run base hit to right center by Elvin Rodriguez in the second inning

The Beach Bums loaded the bases with nobody out in their second frame and scored one on a 6-4-3 double play to cut their deficit to 2-1.

The Belters bought insurance in the ninth with three consecutive singles including the RBI by Justin Fletcher.

Horatio Acosta (7-2) captured the win with six and one-third innings on the hill, giving up one earned run on six hits with one walk and one strikeout. Tucker Simpson (2-2) worked seven innings in the loss, giving up two earned runs on four hits with three walks and two strikeouts. Brennan Smith pitched the ninth for his third save.

The series concludes Sunday with a 4:05 p.m. Central first pitch as the Belters send Mike Elwood (1-1, 2.95 ERA) to the mound against the Beach Bums’ Kramer Champlin (3-5, 2.51) in a match-up of right-handers. Broadcast time on WJBC.com is 3:50.

Stay social with the CornBelters at http://twitter.com/normal_baseball, http://www.facebook.com/CornBelters and http://www.youtube.com/normalcornbelters.

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