The Florence Freedom, presented by Titan Mechanical Solutions, got toppled by the River City Rascals, 15-4, on Saturday night at CarShield Field.
For the second time in as many nights, River City (44-34) lit up the scoreboard first, getting a sacrifice-fly from Braxton Martinez to take an early, 1-0, lead after one.
Florence (48-31) evened the score in the top of the second, Connor Crane beating a drawn in infield to plate a run as the contest stalemated at, 1-1.
Jackson Owens (0-1), who was making his first start in nearly three months for the Freedom, surrendered four runs in the bottom of the second. Zach Lavy knocked his tenth home run of the season, a two-run shot, before Andrew Penner plated a pair with a single to give the Rascals a, 5-1, advantage.
The Freedom trimmed the deficit to three in the third. Ricky Ramirez Jr. wore his first of two hit-by-pitches with the bases loaded, scoring Ryan Rinsky who reached the same way earlier in the frame.
Batting around for the second time in the home side of the fourth, River City began to pull away with a five spot as the score moved to, 10-2.
The Rascals recorded four hits in the frame, all with two outs. Tanner Murphy drove in the first run with a single, followed by an RBI one-bagger from Nick Anderson. L.J. Kalawaia plated two with his second of four singles in the game, the only run not scoring on a knock was Kameron Esthay who crossed home-plate on a wild pitch.
Owens would step aside amidst the barrage, handing the ball to knuckle-baller, Chris Amend with two outs. Amend got the out in short order, earning his first pro strikeout with a whiff of Andrew Penner to start his Freedom debut.
Owens final line included 3.2 innings, ten runs allowed, nine earned, on ten hits with 5 walks and a pair of punch-outs in defeat.
Lefty Alex Winkelman would come back out for the fifth, but failed to finish the inning, getting replaced by Yeison Medina (6-3) after a bases loaded walk to Austin Wobrock made the score, 10-3.
Winkelman struggled in his start, ending his night having spanned 4.1 innings while allowing three earned runs on four hits with seven walks, three hit-batters and three whiffs in the no-decision.
Florence would go on to leave 11 men on base in the 11-run loss.
Five more runs would score in the River City side of the sixth. The home team batting around for a third time to muddle the line of Amend.
The right-hander was touched for six hits in the frame, four of which were for extra bases.
Nick Anderson and Penner each plated one with their two-baggers, before Nolan Meadown notched an RBI-single.
Braxton Martinez continued his big series next, scratching two across on a double to left-center, the fourth of the inning.
Martinez now has 8 RBI in the two games played this weekend, and is 4-6 at the dish. The Rascals rallied to 19 hits on the way to their 15 runs.
Trailing, 15-3, Luis Pintor unloaded his sixth homer of the year to right-center with Andrew Vernon on the hill in the ninth.
Despite the loss, Pintor had a big night at the plate, tallying three hits and finishing a triple shy of the cycle.
With hopes of salvaging the finale, Florence will trot-out southpaw, Scott Sebald (6-1, 3.38) opposite righty, Taylor Ahearn (2-3, 2.31) of the Rascals with first pitch slated for 5:05 p.m. CDT on Sunday night at CarShield Field.
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
