Belters 4 Bolts 0
NORMAL, IL – The ThunderBolts were shut out for the fourth time in the last six games as they fell to the Normal CornBelters 4-0 in game one of their series at The Corn Crib Tuesday night.
Pat McKenna started the scoring in the bottom of the first. After a Mark Micowski single, he launched his league-leading seventh home run to left field to make it 2-0.
That score held for the next five innings. Travis Tingle gave up just two more hits and retired ten consecutive batters through the end of the fifth. Kevin Johnson struck out a career-high nine in five innings for Normal (12-4) and allowed only two ThunderBolt hits.
After the fifth inning, a problem with the stadium lights forced a 48-minute delay that forced Johnson out of the game. The ThunderBolts (5-10) left Tingle in for just two batters after the delay.
Normal scored their third run in the sixth inning on a Cameron Giannini wild pitch. In the seventh, Aaron Dudley singled and Ozney Guillen’s base hit knocked him in to make it 4-0.
Race Parmenter finished the game out of the CornBelters bullpen, striking out the final six Windy City hitters. In all, Normal pitching finished with 17 strikeouts, a season-high for ThunderBolt batters. The Bolts entered with the fewest strikeouts in the Frontier League (84).
Johnson (1-1) earned his first win with his five shutout innings and Tingle fell to 0-4 despite allowing only two earned runs in 5.1 innings, raising his ERA to 2.36.
The ThunderBolts will continue their three-game road trip in Normal with game two on Wednesday. Jake Fisher (1-2, 4.19) will start for the Bolts. The CornBelters will counter with Michael Schweiss (2-1, 1.86). First pitch is scheduled for 6:35 and the broadcast can be heard on WXAV 88.3 FM and wxav.com.
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