NORMAL - The Normal CornBelters scored 14 unanswered runs in the first five innings of their Prospect League baseball game against the Alton River Dragons, with Alton scoring single runs in the sixth and seventh, but it was Normal who went on to the 14-2 win over Alton on Friday night at the Corn Crib In Normal.
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It was only the second game of the second half of the league's split season for the River Dragons, losing at Terre Haute 4-2 and were rained out of a doubleheader on Wednesday against O'Fallon, Mo., before having the July 4rh holiday off.
The CornBelters got their first two runs on a single by Chase Mason, who went to second on an error, with Griffin Brown and Tyler Thompson scoring to give Normal the 2-0 lead. It became 3-0 when Zach Zychowski reached on another error, allowing Will Jesske to score and make it 3-0 for Normal. In the second, Thompson singled home Austin Wiegand, a ground rule double from Tyler Castro, scored another run, and a two-run single by Mason gave the CornBelters a 7-0 lead.
In the third, Brown singled home Eddie Letamendi to give Normal an 8-0 lead, and in the fourth, Wiegand reached on an error, scoring Zychowski, and Wiegand later scored on a wild pitch to make it 10-0 for Normal. Brown then singled in Letamendi to advance the lead to 11-0. In the fifth, a Wiegand ground-rule double, a ground out by Alex Mezzetti, and a Thompson RBI single gave the CornBelters a 14-0 lead.
The River Dragons got on the board in the top of the sixth, when Metro-East Lutheran's Erik Broekemeier singled home R.J. LaRocco, Jr., and in the seventh, LaRocco reached on a bases loaded error that allowed Javi Alvarez to scored, but it was the final run of the game, as the CornBelters took the 14-2 win, the game being called because of the 10-run rule.
Broekemeier had two hits and the River Dragons' only RBI on the evening, while Cooper Howell, Eli Hill and Alvarez had the only other hits.
I Hung Yeh started on the mound for Alton, and was charged with the loss, working two innings and allowing seven runs, six earned, on six hits, walking two and striking out two. Colin Club came in and pitched 1.1 innings, giving up four runs, two earned, on two hits, walking four, while Aiden Adams went for 1.2 innings, allowing three runs on four hits, walking two and fanning one. Jack Gazdacka pitched the final inning, retiring the side in order.
The River Dragons are now 13-15 overall, 0-2 in the second half, and will play their scheduled home game at the Cape Catfish in Cape Girardeau, Mo., Saturday in a 4 p.m. first pitch, then play a doubleheader at the Springfield Lucky Horseshoes, the first game being a resumption of a suspended game in the top of the fifth with Alton leading 4-3 in the top of the fifth, before playing their regularly scheduled game at 7 p.m.
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