Peoria Notches a Season-High 17 Hits, Tops Cedar Rapids 11-6

Cedar Rapids, IA - Behind 17 hits and three home runs, Peoria came from behind to top Cedar Rapids 11-6 in game one of the series Tuesday night.

Entering having lost five in a row, Peoria got on the board first in the top of the first inning. With two outs, Michael Curialle reached on an error, and after back-to-back singles, he came home to score to put the Chiefs on top 1-0.

In the second, Alex Iadisernia smashed a solo home run to double the Peoria lead to 2-0.

That was the score when Cedar Rapids took the lead for the first time in the third inning. A Misael Urbina double began the inning, and after a Nate Baez walk, two were on for Agustin Ruiz, who put the Kernels on the board with an RBI single. Two batters later, Rubel Cespedes singled into center field to tie the game at 2-2. With two still on and two out, Danny De Andrade crushed a three-run home run, his first as a Kernel, to lift Cedar Rapids on top 5-2.

Down by three, Joshua Baez led off the fifth for Peoria with a single. After a walk, he moved to second and scored on a Curialle RBI single to make it 5-3.

In the top of the seventh, Zach Levenson led off the inning with a solo home run to bring Peoria back within one. The next batter, Iadisernia, singled, stole second, advanced to third on a passed ball and scored on a sac fly to tie the game again at 5-5.

In the bottom of the inning, the Kernels grabbed the lead right back. Baez walked to give the Kernels a one-out base runner, and after a Luke Keaschall single moved him into scoring position, he scored on a Ricardo Olivar RBI single to put Cedar Rapids ahead 6-5.

But that was the last lead the Kernels had. Peoria got two runs in the eighth on a Triple and a wild pitch followed by a William Sullivan solo home run. The Cheifs then scored four more times in the ninth inning to pull away with an 11-6 win in game one of the series.

The loss drops the Kernels down to 10-11 on the season and snaps the five-game home winning streak against Peoria. Game two of the series is set for tomorrow at 6:35 with John Klein taking the mound for Cedar Rapids opposite Cooper Hjerpe.