For the first time this season, the Florence Freedom, presented by Titan Mechanical Solutions, were swept in a series, dropping the finale with the Lake Erie Crushers, 9-2, on Thursday night at Sprenger Stadium.
It was a week of firsts for the Freedom (37-21), who took the field on Thursday in the midst of their first losing streak. Lake Erie (30-24) set the tone from the start, lifting a pair of solo homers off Daniel Williams (3-2) in the bottom of the first, Aaron Hill and Dale Burdick going yard as it was quickly a, 2-0, game.
Adding to their advantage in the fourth, Jake Vieth unloaded a three-run shot to straight away center, his three-run blast clearing the batters eye as the Crushers took a five-run lead. Not done there, Hill stroked an RBI-single in the frame as the score became, 6-0, after four innings.
Florence would pull within four with a two-spot in the fifth, loading the bases off Alex Romero (3-2) with one out. Connor Crane plated the first Freedom run, wearing a pitch to score Ricky Ramirez Jr. from third. Isaac Benard hit next, lining a sacrifce fly to center to make it a, 6-2, game.
Williams would start the fifth inning on the hill, but he would not finish it. Exiting the game with the bases loaded and two outs to find. Lefty Hayden Wheeler took over, minimizing the damage by yielding just a sacrifice-fly to Vieth as the two first place teams were separated by five-runs at, 7-2. The run would be charged to Williams, who finished with a final line of 4.1 innings, eight hits allowed leading to seven earned runs with three walks and five whiffs.
Romero would exit the game having logged a quality-start despite not having his best stuff. The righty earned the win spanning sixinnings, allowing just two runs off of two hits, with four walks and six strikeouts
With Patrick Baker on the bump in the bottom of the eighth, Lake Erie added to their lead with two more runs in their last at-bat. With runners at second and third following a walk and a Hill ground-rule double, Marrero pushed the Crushers ahead by six with an RBI-ground-out to second. Zach Racusin proceeded to make it a seven-run game with a flare to center that scored Hill and brought the score to, 9-2, the eventual final.
Hill had a banner night at the plate, going a perfect 5-5 with 2 RBI and finished just a triple short of the cycle. The Crushers second baseman belted a homer, two doubles and a pair of singles in the affair.
The Freedom will get right back to work on Friday when they return home to UC Health Stadium for an important series with the red-hot, Evansville Otters, winners of three-straight. Florence will look to bounce back sending lefty, Scott Sebald (3-1, 3.53) to the hill opposite a TBD starter for Evansville. First pitch is slated for 7:05 p.m. in Florence, Ky.
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
