The ThunderBolts fell for the third time in four games on the current home stand Tuesday night, 9-5 at the hands of the Normal CornBelters.
After sitting through a 35 minute rain delay, Ryan Quigley started the game for Windy City and retired the first seven batters he faced. The Bolts got on the board in the first inning as Gilberto Mejia led off the inning with a single, advancing to third on a two base error by centerfielder Joe Hicks. He came in to score on a Mike Sullivan double. They extended their lead in the second with a Ryne White single followed by a sacrifice bunt by Mike Torres and an error on third baseman Daniel Cox who failed to come up with a Donnie Ecker grounder.
The wheels came off on Quigley’s game in the third, though. After he walked Phil Laurent, Eric Brown and Andre Alvarado each tripled to tie the score at two. In the fourth, Daniel Cox hit a leadoff home run. After the next five batters all reached base, Quigley was removed and Ricky Meinhold rounded up the three necessary outs, but not before the CornBelters had scored four times in the inning.
Dan Blewett started for Normal and was outstanding, allowing just one earned run in seven innings while striking out nine in earning his first career victory. The ThunderBolts made things interesting in the late innings, scoring once in the eighth on a Tim Alberts homer, the first by a ThunderBolt at Standard Bank Stadium this season, and two runs in the ninth. But two late insurance homers by Steve Alexander put the CornBelters out of reach in the 9-5 final.
Dan Blewett improved to 1-2 with the win while Ryan Quigley took the loss, falling to 2-1. The same two teams square off in game two of the series tomorrow with Brent Solich (1-2) expected to pitch for Windy City against Kevin Kreier (2-0) for Normal. Game time is 7:05 with the game broadcast on WXAV 88.3 fm.
