The Florence Freedom, presented by Titan Mechanical Solutions, erased an early deficit but fell flat late in a 5-4 loss to the Windy City ThunderBolts on Tuesday at UC Health Stadium.
Jordan Kraus (8-4) gave up a single to ThunderBolts (34-26) leadoff hitter Keenyn Walker and walked Coco Johnson to begin the game, and surrendered a two-run double to Riley Krane.
The Freedom got on the board with a Garrett Vail RBI-single in the second, and in the third inning, Collins Cuthrell followed a pair of singles with a three-run homer to left field off Drake Robison (2-2), giving Florence a 4-2 lead.
Windy City, however, pushed across one run in each of the next three innings as Kraus continued. Corey Bass provided a sacrifice fly to deep right field in the fourth, Larry Balkwill tied the score with a home run to left, and Ransom LaLonde put the ThunderBolts back on top by doubling and scoring on a Walker single.
Florence managed just two hits over the final six innings as they were held scoreless the rest of the way, including leaving the bases loaded in the eighth inning against reliever Scott Kuzminsky. Brian Loconsole retired the Freedom in order in the ninth inning.
Mike Anthony made his professional debut by pitching a scoreless eighth inning for the Freedom, and Keivan Berges overcame a bases-loaded, two-out jam in the top of the ninth to prevent the ThunderBolts from extending their lead.
Andre Mercurio went 0-for-4 in the game, stopping his hitting streak at 10 games.
The series continues Wednesday with first pitch scheduled for 10:35 a.m. at UC Health Stadium. Braulio Torres-Perez (1-0) will start for the Freedom against Windy City’s Jake Fisher (6-4).
The Florence Freedom are members of the independent Frontier League and play all home games at UC Health Stadium located at 7950 Freedom Way in Florence, KY. The Freedom can be found online at FlorenceFreedom.com, or by phone at 859-594-4487.
Florence Freedom
