C.R. Kernels with walk-off win, Zander Wiel hits big home run in honor of late grandfather

CEDAR RAPIDS — It would have been the perfect story, but it'll have to settle for just being really good.

Zander Wiel demolished a three-run home run over 8th Avenue in the eighth inning Sunday afternoon to give the Cedar Rapids Kernels a stunning 8-7 lead over Wisconsin. That's a lot of eights.

It didn't turn out to be the winning hit, as Wisconsin tied things in the top of the ninth. A fielding error in the bottom of the inning allowed Brad Hartong to scamper home for a 9-8 Kernels victory.

Wiel's blast still was plenty special, the most appropriate way to say goodbye to his grandfather. Clyde Hicks passed away last week in North Carolina at the age of 81.

The Kernels first baseman missed two games to attend grandpa's funeral, making it back to Cedar Rapids just in time to be inserted into Sunday's lineup. He was 0-for-4 until sending a ball into the heavens.

'It absolutely was for him,' Wiel said. 'I feel like I had been seeing the ball well and driving the ball, but not having much luck today. But I definitely feel in that last AB, he reached down and helped me out a little bit.'

Wiel said he woke up about 3:30 a.m. Sunday to make an early morning flight from Charlotte, N.C., to Chicago. Then it was another flight from Chicago to C.R.

'Got here about 10,' he said. 'I was completely exhausted. But I came here and was able to get some blood flowing, kind of wake up a little bit. I had to play. Jake said 'Are you good to go?' I said yeah.'

'He told me before he left 'I want to play when I get back in,'' Kernels Manager Jake Mauer said. 'He was ready to go.'

Quite an uplifting win for the Kernels, who are 28-21 and in first place in the Midwest League's Western Division. They trailed in the sixth inning, 6-0, but somehow found a way to come back.

A four-run sixth got them within striking distance, with another run in the seventh making it 6-5. Wisconsin scored a run in the eighth.

A two-out RBI double scored the tying run for the Timber Rattlers in the ninth, the first earned run allowed against Kernels relief pitcher Michael Theofanpoulos in his 21 innings.

'They battled their tails off,' Mauer said of his team. 'That sixth inning was huge. Got us back into it.'

Outfielder LaMonte Wade singled in the sixth to extend his streak of reaching base via hit or walk to 29 consecutive games. The teams conclude their four-game series Monday afternoon at 2:05.

l Comments: (319) 398-8259; jeff.johnson@thegazette.com