Kernels Explode for Eight Runs on Eleven Hits, Top South Bend 8-4

South Bend, IN - After falling behind 3-0, Cedar Rapids exploded for eight straight runs to come from behind and beat South Bend 8-4 Wednesday night.

After a notching 14 hits in the game-one win on Tuesday, the South Bend offense started hot again on Wednesday. To lead off the bottom half of the first inning, Ezequiel Pagan doubled, and two batters later came home to score on a James Triantos RBI single to put the Cubs up 1-0.

In the second, a triple and a walk put two on for Ethan Hearn, who made it 2-0 with a sacrifice fly. A Matt Shaw single then put two on for Triantos, who picked up his second RBI single in as many innings to make it a 3-0 game.

But the Cubs' scoring would slow down from there. Andrew Morris settled down on the mound for Cedar Rapids and picked up his fourth win in as many starts, pitching his last three innings scoreless to finish with a line of 5.0 IP, 9 H, 3 ER, 2 K, 1 BB. Behind him, Jordan Carr was again really strong out of the Kernels bullpen, tossing three one-run innings, then John Stankiewicz closed the game with a 1-2-3 ninth frame.

On offense, the Cedar Rapids bats got going in the top of the third inning. A Jose Salas double and a Noah Miller walk put two on for Emmanuel Rodriguez, who smoked a two-run double that put the Kernels within one run at 3-2.

In the fifth, Misael Urbina led off the inning with a double, then Salas reached on the bunt single, and on the play, Urbina scored on a throwing error to tie the game at 3-3. The next batter, Kyler Fedko, then handed Cedar Rapids the lead it would never lose with an RBI single to put the Kernels up 4-3.

In the sixth inning, Noah Cardenas took a one-out walk, then two batters later came home to score on Jose Salas’ second double and third hit of the night to double the Kernels lead to 5-3.

In the eighth inning, Cedar Rapids blew the game open. Two walks began the inning and put two on with one out for Fedko, who picked up his second RBI of the night with a double to left field. The next batter, Miller, then picked up a double of his own, scoring two to put the Kernels up by five at 8-3.

Felix Stevens crushed a solo home run in the bottom of the eighth inning for South Bend to cut it to a four-run game, but that was the closest the Cubs would get in the 8-4 Cedar Rapids win.

The victory for the Kernels (72-44) evens up the series with South Bend (50-64) at a game apiece and gets Cedar Rapids back in the win column after its four-game winning streak came to a close on Tuesday. Game three of the series is set for Thursday night at 6:05, with Cory Lewis on the mound against Grant Kipp.