SOUTH BEND, Ind. - After Cedar Rapids opened the scoring Sunday afternoon, the Cubs scored the game’s final 13 runs in a 13-1 win over the Kernels in the series finale.
Entering the game having scored 20 unanswered runs in the series, the Kernels made it 21 in the top of the first inning. To lead off the game, Jacob McCombs homered to right to put Cedar Rapids on top 1-0.
South Bend broke the Kernels string of scoring in the bottom of the first inning. An Angel Cepeda single and a Josiah Hartshorn walk put two on, and after the runners advanced to second and third, an error scored them both to put the Cubs ahead 2-1.
The Cubs did not look back from there. In the bottom of the third, four singles followed by a Brennan Hudson double combined to plate four runs to push the South advantage to 6-1.
In the fourth, Kade Snell singled to start the inning, followed by a Hartshorn two-run home run to make the South Bend lead 8-1. Later in the inning, a single and a walk put two runners on for Logan Poteet, who drove in a run with an RBI single. Behind him, Geuri Lubo lifted a sacrifice fly to up the score to 10-1.
The Cubs continued to add in the fifth. Angel Cepeda walked to begin the inning, and after he moved to third on a Hartshorn double, he scored on an RBI groundout to make it 11-1.
That stayed the score until the bottom of the eighth. A walk and a single put two runners on for Poteet, who scored a run with an RBI single, and on the play, another run came in to score on an error to make the lead 13-1. Rain then came pouring down at Four Winds Field and concluded the game in the bottom of the eighth with the Cubs ahead 13-1.
The loss drops the Kernels to 41-65 on the season as they split the series in South Bend. Cedar Rapids returns home to start a six-game series against Wisconsin Tuesday night at 6:35; both starters are TBD.