Joe Cronin’s 2 home runs help Cedar Rapids Kernels to 7-4 win over Great Lakes

CEDAR RAPIDS — Joe Cronin just shook his head when asked if he'd ever hit two home runs in a game before.

Not in college? Not in high school?

Not even in little league?

'No, no, no,' the Cedar Rapids Kernels infielder said. 'Look at me. Look at this body.'

Fair enough. At a listed 5-foot-10 and 184 pounds, Cronin doesn't have the appearance of a power hitter.

He just played the role of one Friday night in his team's 7-4 win over Great Lakes at Veterans Memorial Stadium. Cronin hit a two-run blast down the left-field line in the third inning, then put the Kernels on top for good with a solo blast onto the porch in left leading off the fifth.

Neither homer was a cheapie. They were the second and third of his two-year pro career.

'I don't know. I really don't know,' Cronin said, when asked to explain his heroics. 'Just a really good night. I was locked in, I guess.'

He was kidded that perhaps he was just stoked still from his emergency relief pitching appearance in a blowout loss Thursday night to Great Lakes. Cronin pitched the ninth inning, giving up a pair of runs but striking out two.

It was his first pitching appearance since his freshman season at Boston College.

'That was it,' he said with a smile.

There finally were a lot of smiles in the home clubhouse after this one. The Kernels (51-47, 12-16) broke out offensively, a welcomed relief for a club that came in losers of eight of nine games, with five of those losses coming via shutout.

Cedar Rapids finished with 11 hits, two apiece from Cronin, Lewin Diaz, Trey Cabbage and Caleb Hamilton. Lansing comes to town now for a three-game series that begins Saturday night.

'This was huge,' Cronin said. 'We've been there, it's just been a bad week and a half. It's in there. We've been saying the whole time that it's going to take one big inning to sort of kickstart it. Then the pressure's off, (and) we can just go back to hitting.'

Evan Sanders threw the first five innings for C.R. to pick up his first professional victory. He struck out seven and allowed just two hits (a pair of solo homers) but four runs.

That was because his control went awry in the fifth, as he pushed toward his longest pro outing. Four of his five walks came then, as well as two wild pitches.

'I probably haven't thrown that many pitches in over a year,' said Sanders, signed by the parent Minnesota Twins as a non-drafted free agent in the spring out of Division II Arkansas-Fort Smith. 'Feels pretty good. It's a big step from where I was two weeks ago. This win definitely puts the team on the right step forward. Personally, there are a couple of things I've got to work on, but it goes how it goes. Taking another small step.'

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