A nonprofit publication of the Kentucky Center for Public Service Journalism

Freedom sweep Schaumburg for sixth consecutive win, Williams shines on the mound


The Florence Freedom, presented by Titan Mechanical Solutions, broke out the brooms for a second consecutive series, beating the Schaumburg Boomers, 8-2.

The victory stretched the Freedom their winning streak reached six games on Thursday night at UC Health Stadium.

Scoring the first two runs of the game, Schaumburg (16-14) jumped in front off the bat, plating a first inning run off Freedom (19-10) starter, Daniel Williams (1-0), who was making his season debut on the mound.

Nick Oddo got the knock, dropping a flare to center-field that scored Jack Parenty, who led off the game with a stand-up double. Adding to their advantage in the third, the Boomers again saw Parenty and Oddo produce. Parenty ripped a single and touched home plate three batters later on a sacrifice-fly from Oddo, to make the score 2-0, visitors.

Florence would stalemate the affair in the bottom of the third, Brandon Pugh led off with a single ahead of a two-run shot to the opposite field in right by Connor Crane. 

The homer was the second in as many nights for Crane, who upped his club-leading total to six round-trippers on the year, as the score knotted up at 2.

The Freedom would take its first lead, plating two unearned runs in the bottom of the fourth.

Erik Martinez (0-2) hit Caleb Lopes and Andre Mercurio in back-to-back at-bats to start the inning. After Tyler Reichenborn successfully bunted both runners into scoring position, Pugh sent a hard ground-ball to short that was fielded by Jimmy Galusky, but his throw sailed to first, allowing both runners to score and give Florence a, 4-2, lead.

Adding some insurance in the sixth, Luis Pintor netted a hustle double that setup an Andre Mercurio RBI-single past a drawn-in infield two batters later, upping advantage to 5-2, Freedom.

Martinez saw his night come to a close after walking Reichenborn. That prompted Jamie Bennett to turn to the southpaw, Darrell Thompson in search of the final two outs in the sixth.

Mercurio stole second base and took third on a wild throw from Oddo.

Austin Wobrock then executed a safety squeeze that gave Florence a four-run advantage at, 6-2.

Not done scoring in the sixth, Mike Gulino stayed hot, dropping an RBI-single to right that plated Wobrock and made the score, 7-2.

Florence would find one more run of insurance in the eighth, Isaac Benard lifting a sacrifice-fly to center off Dougherty that scored Wobrock and pushed the home team in front by the eventual, 8-2 final score.

Martinez would take the loss, spanning 5.1 innings and allowing six runs, four earned, on five hits with one walk and a pair of strikeouts. After Thompson retired the side in the sixth.

Daniel Williams was excellent on the hill for Florence. The righty spanned seven innings and allowed just two earned runs on six scattered hits with no walks and five whiffs. 

The performance earned Williams a quality start, and his first Freedom victory.

The Freedom welcome the East Division Lake Erie Crushers to UC Health Stadium for a weekend series beginning on Friday night. The starting pitchers on each side are TBD, with first pitch slated for 7:05 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  

Florence Freedom


Related Posts

Leave a Comment