NORMAL -- Jesus Solorzano hit a leadoff home run in the ninth inning to lift the Normal CornBelters to a 6-5 walkoff win and series sweep of the Southern Illinois Miners on Thursday night.
Solorzano's homer came against Miners reliever Tre Hobbs after all-star closer blew a save opportunity in the eighth inning.
The Miners led 5-2 after six innings, but Normal scored two in the seventh, tied it in the eighth and won it in the ninth. The Miners are now 32-49 with a four-game losing skid and sit 21 games behind Florence in the Frontier League's West Division standings.
Southern Illinois scored four runs in the third inning with an RBI double by Ben Moore, a run-producing fielder's choice by Ryan Sluder and two-out singles by Ryan Lashley and Craig Massoni.
Anthony Critelli's RBI double in the sixth gave the Miners a 5-2 lead.
Justin Fletcher's two-run double against Kyle Grana made it 5-4. Walks by Kyle Tinius and John Werner led to the tying run in the eighth.
Nolan Earley and Brett Wiley both had two hits along with Lashley and Moore in the loss.
On Wednesday, Normal batted around in the first inning with the help of two errors en route to a 5-2 win.
Lashley finished 3-for-4 with two doubles, while Wiley and Plant both had two hits.
The Miners now return home for a weekend series against the Florence Freedom beginning on Friday.
