Florence Salvages Series Finale with Lake Erie
Published on August 5, 2018 under Frontier League (FL)
Florence Y'alls News Release
FLORENCE, Ky - Needing a win to avoid a sweep, the Florence Freedom, presented by Titan Mechanical Solutions, utilized a strong first inning in a, 7-5, victory over the Lake Erie Crushers on Sunday afternoon, snapping their three-game losing skid at UC Health Stadium.
The Freedom (36-36) attacked Lake Erie (38-34) starter Jake Repavich (0-1) right away, recording three straight hits to score two runs and get out to an early lead. Austin Wobrock shot a ball back up the middle to lead off the bottom of the first, before Caleb Lopes drove in his fourteenth run of the season on a triple to right. One batter later, Skyler Ewing plated Lopes with a single, and after reaching second on a ground-out, scored on a Jordan Brower one-bagger to left. The line kept moving as Keivan Berges got a fastball and deposited it over the left field wall as the Freedom surged out to a, 5-0, lead, sending eight men to the plate in the frame.
The storyline of this series was the ability of Lake Erie to respond after Florence scored, and the pattern continued in the second, as the Crushers scored four times against Christian DeLeon to make it a one-run game. Cody Lenahan singled to lead off the inning, and Douglas Trimble doubled off the wall in center to put two in scoring position for Dalton Wheat. Wheat then shot a single to right field, scoring a pair before Nick Roark launched a big-fly to left-center, a two-run shot, making the score, 5-4.
It was a short leash for DeLeon, who was removed in favor of Mike Castellani (2-0) for the start of the third inning. DeLeon allowed four runs on four hits over his two innings, walking one batter.
Castellani worked an effective three innings, surrendering only two hits as he retired nine of the eleven batters he faced before Dennis Pelfrey turned to Eric Gleese for the start of the sixth. Gleese only faced two batters, allowing a double to Zach Racusin before Trimble laid down a sacrifice bunt to push Racusin to third. Evan Korson emerged from the bullpen and recorded two outs to quell the threat. Jacob Wark made a tremendous diving snag at first on a sharply hit ground-ball off the bat of Wheat en route to preserving the Freedom one run edge with the tying run standing at third base, stepping on first for the second out of the inning.
After the shaky start, Repavich settled into a groove through the middle innings, tossing five shut-out frames after the five run first. The lefty was relieved by Luke Watts on the bump in the bottom of the seventh, finishing his day with five earned runs allowed on eight hits, and did not walk a batter while striking out two.
The Freedom offense struck for one in the seventh off Watts to extend their lead to two. After Wark singled to right, Freedom newcomer John Price Jr. singled him into scoring position, putting two on with one out. As both runners took off for the next base, Austin Wobrock shot a line drive through the hole at short, plating Wark and increasing the Freedom edge to, 6-4, ahead of the eighth.
The Crushers continued to respond in the top of the eighth, as Joel McKeithan hit a solo-shot to left off Cody Gray, again pulling the visitors within one.
Florence would respond again in the bottom half, however getting another timely hit from Berges. With Ricky Ramirez Jr. at second after a double, Lake Erie elected to intentionally walk Brower, bringing Berges to the plate. Keivan knocked an RBI-single to center to give the home team the, 7-5, lead moving into the ninth.
With closer Johnathon Tripp toeing the slab in search of his ninth save of the season, the Crushers went down quietly as the Freedom earned the win in the regular-season finale with the Crushers, 7-5.
The Freedom now turn their attention to the first-place in the West Division, River City Rascals, who come to Florence for a pivotal division clash on Tuesday. First pitch is scheduled for 6:35 pm at UC Health Stadium.
The Florence Freedom are members of the Independent Frontier League and play all home games at UC Health Stadium located at 7950 Freedom Wayin Florence, KY. The Freedom can be found online at florencefreedom.com, or by phone at (859) 594-4487.
Frontier League Stories from August 5, 2018
- Grizzlies Shut out Joliet, Win Series - Gateway Grizzlies
- Wild Things Take Finale 7-5 - Washington Wild Things
- Beach Bums Suffer Series Sweep against Normal - Traverse City Beach Bums
- Wild Things Take Finale over Rascals - River City Rascals
- Crushers Fall in Series Finale - Lake Erie Crushers
- Miners Swept Away by ThunderBolts - Southern Illinois Miners
- Florence Salvages Series Finale with Lake Erie - Florence Y'alls
- ThunderBolts Triumph in Seesaw Game to Complete Sweep - Windy City ThunderBolts
- Otters Shutout Boomers to Clinch Series Sweep - Evansville Otters
- Boomers Blanked in Finale at Evansville - Schaumburg Boomers
The opinions expressed in this release are those of the organization issuing it, and do not necessarily reflect the thoughts or opinions of OurSports Central or its staff.
