Johnny Olmstead's homer helps propel Beloit Sky Carp past Cedar Rapids Kernels

BELOIT — Coming into a six-game series at ABC Supply Stadium, the Cedar Rapids Kernels were one of the hottest teams in the Midwest League.

Cedar Rapids entered Tuesday firmly in first place of the West Division at 11-4 and went 8-2 in its past 10 games.

But the Beloit Sky Carp doused the fiery Kernels with the help of some strong pitching from starter Jake Miller and a pair of bombs from the plate in a 5-3 win, which featured a 52 minute rain delay in the bottom of the sixth.

Tied at three, Johnny Olmstead started off the bottom of the fifth by smashing a solo home run, his eighth blast of the season, to left field that put Beloit (37-42 overall, 7-9 second half) ahead for good.

The Sky Carp’s Brock Vradenburg singled to start the sixth and stole second before the heavy rain shower forced the squads to head to the dugout. Jarret Whorff entered in relief off starter Jordan Carr and struck out Jake DeLeo, but Sam Praytor provided Beloit with some insurance when he smacked an RBI double to the left-field wall.

Yeuris Jimenez threw a 1-2-3 seventh and Evan Taylor tossed a perfect eighth before Xavier Meachem worked around a leadoff double from Kevin Maitan to seal the win and earn his sixth save of the season.

Beloit takes a 1-0 lead in the homestand, one which they hope to get back on track in amidst a tough stretch where it went 2-8 in its previous 10 games coming in.

Beloit jumped on Carr for two runs in the first as Josh Zamora and Tony Bullard each singled with one out. Brett Roberts reached on a fielding error by shortstop Rayne Doncon to load the bases, and Vradenburg then smacked a two-run single into left field.

Mark Coley then smacked a two-out solo homer over the left-field fence for his seventh blast of the season to give Beloit a 3-0 lead in the second.

Carr finished after five innings and allowed five runs (three earned) on nine hits with a strikeout.

Meanwhile, Miller was steady from the mound to give his squad a chance to win. He threw a perfect first, worked around two singles in the second and had a 1-2-3 third before the Kernels struck in the fourth.

Gabriel Gonzalez doubled, moved to third on a ground out and scored on Jay Harry’s ground out to second.

Cedar Rapids tied it at three in the fifth when Tyler Dearden and Agustin Ruiz hit back-to-back doubles and, two outs later, Ricardo Olivar drew a walk and then scored on Gonzalez’s single to right.

Whorff allowed just two hits and struck out four in three innings, but the Sky Carp’s bullpen was just as strong to preserve the lead and victory.

Praytor smacked two doubles and Zamora and Vradenburg each added two hits as Beloit outhit the Kernels 11-7. Eight of the Sky Carp’s nine batters recorded at least one hit.

Gonzalez, Maitan and Dearden each had two hits for Cedar Rapids.

The two squads are back in action on Wednesday at ABC Supply Stadium at 6:35 p.m.

• BOXSCORE:

BELOIT 5, CEDAR RAPIDS 3

Cedar Rapids 000 120 000 — 3 7 1

Beloit 210 011 00x — 5 11 0

CEDAR RAPIDS (ab-r-h-rbi) — Doncon, ss, 4-0-0-0; Olivar, c, 3-0-0-0; Gonzalez, lf, 4-1-2-1; Cespedes, dh, 4-0-0-0; Harry, 3b, 4-0-0-1; Maitan, 1b, 4-0-2-0; Dearden, cf, 3-1-2-0; Ruiz, rf, 4-1-1-1; Salas, 2b, 3-0-0-0. Totals: 33-3-7-3.

BELOIT (ab-r-h-rbi) — Coley, rf, 4-1-1-1; Olmstead, ss, 4-1-1-1; Zamora, 2b, 4-1-2-0; Bullard, 3b, 3-1-1-0; Roberts, lf, 4-0-0-0; Vradenburg, 1b, 4-1-2-2; DeLeo, dh, 4-0-1-0; Praytor, c, 4-0-2-1; Johnson, cf, 3-0-1-0. Totals: 34-5-11-5.

E: Duncan. DP: CR 1. LOB: CR 6, Bel 6. 2B: Gonzalez, Dearden, Maitan, Praytor 2. HR: Coley II (7), Olmstead (8) Sac: Salas. SB: Vradenburg (2).

Pitching (ip-h-r-er-bb-so): CR, Carr (L,2-3) 5.0-9-5-3-0-1; Whorff 3.0-2-0-0-1-4. Bel, Miller (W,4-4) 6.0-6-3-3-1-1; Jimenez 1.0-0-0-0-0-0; Taylor 1.0-0-0-0-0-0; Meachem (S,6) 1.0-1-0-0-0-1.

HBP: Dearden by Miller. T: 2:08. Att. 772.