Soon-to-be bridegroom Kuresa with walk-off hit for Kernels

CEDAR RAPIDS - Coming to bat with the bases loaded in the bottom of the ninth inning against a fellow lefty who's throwing 95 miles per hour wasn't a big deal to Tyler Kuresa.

That's not pressure. The Cedar Rapids Kernels first baseman is getting married in two months.

Now that's pressure.

'The quicker he throws, the sooner (the at-bat) is over,” Kuresa said, after his single walked off Beloit, 5-4, before 3,034 fans Sunday afternoon at Veterans Memorial Stadium. 'But, marriage, that's forever.”

The successful plate appearance represented the improvement you've seen from Kuresa since he returned to town recently. The first baseman struggled the first two months of the Midwest League season, got shipped to extended spring training in Florida, then Rookie ball in Tennessee.

Makenna Catchot literally has been with him the entire way. They met as freshmen at the University of Oregon and remained together even after he transferred to the University of California-Santa Barbara.

'We actually grew up about 20 minutes from each other (in California),” Kuresa said. 'We came home for Christmas break (that first year), and she actually took one of my bags back home because she was driving, and I was flying. We started hanging out and have been dating ever since.”

Former college teammate and Kernels teammate Jared Wilson is in Kuresa's wedding. Catchot, by the way, isn't nearly as nervous about the upcoming nuptials as her fiance.

'Oh, no,” she said. 'I'm locking him down.”

”It's so easy to bring the game home with me and to just think about it all night,” Kuresa said. 'But when she's here, when I'm at the field, I'm at the field and my concentration is better. I know when I go home, I'm going to be home. Those 0-for-2 days don't carry into the next day. It's really nice, really nice having her around.”

Beloit tied the game with two runs in the top of the ninth against relief pitcher Luke Bard. Tanner English led off the bottom of the ninth with a single up the middle.

Nick Gordon dropped a bunt down the third-base line, reaching base when Beloit third baseman Joe Bennie fumbled it. Edgar Corcino bunted both runners ahead, and Zack Larson was intentionally walked to load them up.

Kuresa took a ball and a strike from Snappers reliever Jose Torres, then hit a sharp ground ball up the middle past diving second baseman Trent Gilbert. It was just his third hit in 37 at-bats against a lefty.

'I think two months ago, I would have overthought the whole at-bat, but I didn't (here),” said Kuresa, who was 3-for-4 with a walk. 'I went up there looking for a good pitch to hit, and I was going to put my best swing on the best pitch. Then whatever was going to happen was going to happen. It worked out for me. I was able to square it up, and I think that encompasses everything that I've gone through the past two months.”

English also had three hits for the Kernels (59-42, 18-13), who hit the road for a week after an off day Monday. Larson had a hit and walked three times.

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