FL Florence Y'alls

Florence Falls to Miners in Extras

July 28, 2018 - Frontier League (FL)
Florence Y'alls News Release


MARION, Il - On a night dominated by each team's pitching staff, the Florence Freedom, presented by Titan Mechanical Solutions, fell short, 4-3, in eleven innings to the Southern Illinois Miners in the weekend opener at Rent One Park.

After a brilliant first two frames on the bump over the ninth and tenth innings, All-Star closer, Johnathon Tripp (3-3) took the hill for Florence (31-32) again in the bottom of the eleventh. Chance Shepard started the inning at second base for the Miners (30-30) via the International Tie-Breaker Rule, and after Tripp tallied the fourth strikeout of his outing, scampered to third on a Kyle Davis fly-out to center. The Freedom elected to intentionally walk Romeo Cortina setting up runners at the corners for Harrison Bragg. In a 1-2 count, Bragg attacked a slider, sending a line-drive into left-center, scoring Shepard as Southern Illinois walked-off with a, 4-3, victory. James Carter (1-0) earned the win in relief, tossing a score-less top half of the eleventh.

For the third time in as many nights, it was the Freedom who took the game's first lead, 2-0, in the top of the second. With two outs and runners at first and second, Austin Wobrock made good on a Keivan Berges double earlier in the frame, knocking a broken bat single to right to push Florence in front by one. The next batter, Harrison White, made it back-to-back two-out RBI-singles with a base knock to center, scoring Jacob Wark from third as the lead grew to two.

Southern Illinois cut the deficit in half in the bottom of the second. Ben Moore doubled to start the frame but would leave the game shortly thereafter, injuring himself on the base-paths. Kyle Davis would replace him, entering the game for Moore at third base in the frame. Davis would soon score on a sacrifice-fly from Max Dutto, making it a, 2-1, game after two. The Miners jumped in front in the bottom of the third, scoring two on a two-out double from Davis who was thrown out trying to stretch the two-bagger into a triple for the third out of the inning. Southern Illinois would not score again until the deciding run in the eleventh, as Freedom starter Chuck Weaver got in a groove en route to his third quality start in his last three outings.

More two-out hitting allowed the Freedom to even the score at three in the top of the sixth. Skyler Ewing singled off Miners starter Aaron Rozek to start the inning, and after Keivan Berges tapped out to second, found himself standing on second base for Ricky Ramirez Jr. Ramirez delivered, lacing a double to the right field corner, scoring Ewing as the score deadlocked, 3-3. Rozek would not return for the seventh, ending his night with a quality start no-decison of his own. The lefty spanned six innings and allowed three runs, all earned, on five hits with one walk and six strikeouts.

Weaver would end his night having also gone six innings, allowing three earned runs on seven hits with two walks and nine whiffs.

Each team would continue racking up strikeouts with their bullpen in the game. Three Florence relievers totaled nine punch-outs over the final five frames, with Southern Illinois using three relievers that collected six strikeouts of their own.

Miners short-stop Max Dutto and manager, Mike Pinto were both ejected for arguing balls and strikes in the contest. Dutto got ran after a seventh inning strikeout looking, with Pinto following shortly behind when Cortina was caught looking in the ninth.

These two teams will square off in a doubleheader at Rent One Park on Saturday. Florence will start right-hander Tyler Gibson and lefty Mike Castellani, with Southern Illinois trotting out a pair of right-handers, Michael Starcevich and Patick Duester. First pitch of Game 1 is slated for 5:05 p.m. CT in Marion, IL.

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.

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