Braulio Torres-Perez tossed a complete-game shutout and the Florence Freedom, presented by Titan Mechanical Solutions, supplied more than enough offense as they handled the Gateway Grizzlies, 7-0, on Friday at UC Health Stadium.
Torres-Perez (4-1) was masterful, stranding seven Grizzlies on the bases en route to a complete game shutout that included six strikeouts. The shutout was the third straight by the Freedom (49-28), and, following Jordan Kraus’ Thursday night gem in Evansville, was the second straight blanking of the complete-game variety.
With the game scoreless in the bottom of the third, a pair of walks to Ryan Rinksy and Daniel Fraga set-up a towering Taylor Oldham three-run homer off Gateway (24-53) starter Dalton Shalberg (0-1), pushing Florence in front, 3-0.
After Jordan Brower extended his team-best hitting streak to 14 games with a double in the fourth inning, Austin Wobrock delivered a sacrifice fly to score Brower and give the Freedom a four-run lead.
Florence would pad their lead again in the sixth, when Brower followed a leadoff single from Collins Cuthrell with his seventh home run of the season, a line-drive two run shot to right field. Fraga would plate one more in the frame, lifting a sacrifice fly to center field to score Keivan Berges, who finished the night with a pair of singles.
The victory was the fifth straight for the Freedom, and the team’s seventh win in as many games against Gateway in 2017.
The series continues Saturday with first pitch scheduled for 6:05 p.m. at UC Health Stadium. Tony Vocca (6-5) will start for the Freedom against Grizzlies right-hander Vince Molesky (5-6).
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.
