Freedom Fall to Traverse City in Double Header
May 22, 2014 - Frontier League (FL)
Florence Y'alls News Release
(Florence, KY) - The Florence Freedom (4-2) got some good pitching performances but the offense scored only a combined four runs and the defense made a combined three errors as the Freedom were swept by the Traverse City Beach Bums (3-3) in a double header Thursday by scores of 5-3 and 3-1.
Game one of the twin bill picked up where Wednesday's game left off, in the bottom of the third with the Freedom up 1-0. Traverse City was able to tie the game in the fifth thanks to a RBI double from Jake Rhodes to score Sean Gusrang, who had walked against Adam Krebs.
But Florence looked like they might just pull game one of the twin bill out as they re-took the lead in the seventh on a Sam Eberle RBI double to score Joe Staley.
Traverse City would answer right away in the eighth inning as reliever Pete Levit hit a batter and walked a batter to start the inning. A sacrifice bunt moved the runners over and a RBI grounder from Jeff DeBlieux tied the game. Jose Vargas would give the Beach Bums the lead with a RBI single.
Florence refused to back down in the back and forth affair. With two outs in the bottom of the eighth, Nick Stein drew a walk. He stole second and advanced to third on a wild pitch. Stein would score on another wild pitch to tie the game. Jacob Tanis singled but was picked off to end the inning.
Unfortunately for Florence, their defense let them down in the ninth. Daniel DeSimone (2-1) gave up a double to Sean Gusrang. Rob Benedict reached on an error by Niko Gallego, putting runners at the corners with one away. Chris Cowell drew a walk and that was it for DeSimone. Edgar Valle entered the game and struck out Taylor Wrenn for out number two. But Scott Woodward delivered the big blow, a two-RBI single to give the Beach Bums a 5-3 lead for good. Both runs were unearned due to the Gallego error.
Game two of the double header saw the Freedom only manage one run despite multiple opportunities. A Vargas single scored Shaun Cooper to get the scoring started right away for the Beach Bums in the first against Dave Middendorf (1-1).
The Freedom had Traverse City starter Alex Gillingham (1-1) on the ropes all game. In the first they hit back-to-back to singles. But a double play killed the momentum. Joe Staley even drew a walk after the double play but they still came up empty handed. In the second inning Clark Murphy and Nick Stein walked to start the frame. But a strikeout and another double play ended the frame. Then the Freedom left the bases loaded in the third when Murphy struck out.
They finally broke through in the fourth inning as Stein singled and scored on a two-out single from Cole Miles to tie the game at one.
Staley drew a one-out walk in the fifth but the Beach Bums turned their third double play of the game to end the inning.
With the game still tied at one entering the sixth, the Beach Bums took the lead for good. Cooper smacked his second double of the game to start the inning. One out later Vargas launched a two-run home run to give Traverse City a 3-1 edge.
Florence went down in order in the sixth and failed to score in the seventh despite bringing the tying run to the plate. The game was only seven innings per Frontier League rules regarding double headers.
The Freedom hit the road for six games, beginning in Schaumburg Friday night. First pitch is set for 7:45 p.m. eastern time from Boomers Stadium. Casey Henn (0-0, 4.50 ERA) gets the ball for Florence.
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