The Florence Freedom, presented by Titan Mechanical Solutions, clawed back from two runs down to take an, 8-7, walk-off win in ten innings over the Southern Illinois Miners on Friday night at UC Health Stadium.
The team just returned from a week-long road trip and didn’t arrive in Northern Kentucky until 6 a.m. Friday, so extra-innings were definitely not in the plans, but they made the most of it.
With power right-hander, Jordan Brink (0-1) on the mound for his second inning of work in the bottom of the tenth, Caleb Lopes was hit by a pitch for the second time in as many at-bats to put the winning run on base with nobody out.
After the purpose pitch, Taylor Bryant effectively bunted Lopes into scoring position before Austin Wobrock pushed the winning run to third with a high-chopper that turned into an infield single, the third single of the night for the Freedom (8-5) short-stop.
With runners now on the corners, Jackson Pritchard came to the plate and saw a wild pitch allow Lopes to score as the Freedom mobbed home-plate with a walk-off, 8-7, victory over Southern Illinois (6-7).
Florence closer, Johnathon Tripp (1-1) earned the win in relief, tossing two masterful innings in the ninth and tenth to help the Freedom secure the opening game win, tallying three strikeouts in the process. The contest was the first extra-inning affair for the Freedom this season, but their second walk-off of the season.
Florence stormed out of the gates, scoring at-least one run in their first four at-bats.
Back-to-back doubles from Isaac Benard and Luis Pintor gave the Freedom an early, 1-0, lead after one, with Pintor extending his season-long hitting streak to thirteen games with the two-bagger off Austin Dubsky. Adding to their lead in the second, Conner Crane continued to produce runs at the plate, launching his third round-tripper of the season, a mammoth solo-shot that caromed off the top of the scoreboard in left-center to give the home team a, 2-0, advantage. Bryant and Wobrock doubled the Freedom lead in the third, making two Dubsky walks hurt with a pair of RBI-singles.
The Miners would cut the deficit in half in the top of the fourth, touching Florence southpaw, Scott Sebald for two runs on a Chris Iriart 2-RBI double off the base of the wall in left field as the score moved to, 4-2.
Continuing to manufacture runs, the Freedom made it a three-run game in their next at-bat, Ricky Ramirez Jr. doing the honors with a run-scoring ground-out to second that made the score, 5-2, Florence after four frames.
Southern Illinois began to seize momentum in the sixth, disrupting another quality start from Sebald with a four-run inning that featured nine batters coming to the plate. Brett Siddall worked a walk with the bases loaded to plate the first run, before Joe Moran was hit by a pitch next to make it a one-run affair at, 5-4. The Miners would take their first lead of the night two batters later, when Joe Duncan roped a two-run single off Brian McKenna, both runs charged to Sebald as the visitors were suddenly ahead, 6-5.
Sebald would ultimately take his third-straight no-decision to open 2019, finishing with a final line of 5 innings pitched and six runs allowed on seven hits with three walks, three strikeouts and two hit batters.
Steve Lohr would offer the Miners another run of insurance in the top of the eighth, following a Duncan double with a two-bagger of his own off John LaRossa as the Freedom fell behind, 7-5.
The game soon turned in the bottom half of the eighth, when Lopes wore his first of two hit-by-pitches to spark a late Freedom surge.
It seemed clear Gabe Gentner meant nothing by the errant pitch, but Miners catcher, Andy Cosgrove exchanged words with Lopes as he made his way to first base, further exciting the Freedom dugout ahead of the first huge play in the comeback victory.
After two outs were recorded with Lopes still at first, Pritchard approached the plate with his team trailing by a pair. The Florence catcher would ignite the Freedom crowd moments later, tattooing a two-run shot to left-center, knotting the score at 7- runs apiece with his second game-saving homer of the season.
The Freedom will host the Miners for game two of this rivalry series at UC Health Stadium on Saturday. Frank Valentino (1-0) is the slated probable starter for Florence, with righty Ryan McAuliffe (0-0) to take the ball for Southern Illinois. First pitch is set for 6:05 p.m.
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.
