FL Florence Y'alls

Freedom Blowout Bolts to Finish Series Sweep

Published on June 14, 2018 under Frontier League (FL)
Florence Y'alls News Release


FLORENCE, Ky - Looking for their first sweep since the opening series of the season, the Florence Freedom, presented by Titan Mechanical Solutions, scored a total of thirteen runs in their first four at-bats en route to a, 17-2, blowout of the Windy City Thunderbolts on Thursday night at UC Health Stadium.

With two outs in the bottom of the first, Jordan Brower gave Florence (14-16) an early one run edge when he attacked a fastball from Windy City (10-18) starter Jake Welch (3-1) for his second home run of the season, sending the ball sailing into the Freedom bullpen. Later in the frame, Jacob Wark followed a Keivan Berges walk with a line drive double down the left field line, scoring Andre Mercurio who was hit by a pitch. Up, 2-0, with two men on, Craig Lepre tallied his first Freedom homer, a three-run jack that put the home team on top by five after one inning.

Chuck Weaver (1-1) settled into an early groove, delivering a trio of shut-down innings as the Freedom offense continued to roll at the plate.

In the bottom of the second, Austin Wobrock singled and Ricky Ramirez Jr. was hit by a pitch before Brower made it, 7-0, with a hard ground-ball that stayed fair down the first base line, plating both runners. Berges kept the line moving when he stroked a single to center to score Brower before Wark came up with an RBI-single of his own to make the score, 9-0. It was Jimmy Heck who put the Freedom up ten, delivering an RBI-ground-out that ended the night for the Bolts starting pitcher, Welch.

Welch would register only 1.1 innings, allowing ten runs, nine earned on six hits with one walk, three hit-batters and no strikeouts.

With Jake Roehn on the bump in the third, Xavier Turner launched the third Freedom homer of the night, a line drive out to left for his third round tripper of the season as the Florence lead expanded to, 11-0. After a Brower walk, Berges put the Freedom home run total at four with an opposite field blast to right, a two-run shot and his third big fly of the season as the lead reached thirteen.

With the bases loaded in the fourth, Turner drove in his second run of the night with a single before a sacrifice fly from Brower made the score, 15-0. Brower finished the night 2-4 with four RBI in just his second game back from a fourteen day stint on the disabled list.

The Thunderbolts got on the board in fifth thanks to the first of two solo-shots from Axel Johnson. Johnson accounted for every Windy City run offensively, spanking his second long-ball in the seventh to cut the Freedom lead to thirteen at, 15-2.

Entering the game in the top of seventh as a defensive replacement for Mercurio, Connor Crane capitalized on his only at-bat of the ballgame, sending a towering blast to right off Bolts reliever, Austin Sweet for the fifth and final Florence homer of the evening as the Freedom again went up fourteen.

Weaver exited the game after seven innings having allowed only the two homers and four scattered hits, totaling seven strikeouts and a pair of walks on the way to his first Freedom win.

After Jimmy Heck doubled to start the bottom of the eighth, Wobrock smacked his third single of the night to put runners on the corners. Ramirez Jr. followed with a swinging bunt up the first base line that scored Heck as Florence moved in front by the eventual final score, 17-2.

The Freedom finished the night with 17 runs on 17 hits and did not commit an error defensively. This was the first time the Freedom scored at least 15 runs since August 11, 2016, when they won, 15-10, against the River City Rascals.

Florence will now welcome the Schaumburg Boomers to town for a three game series starting Friday night. Cody Gray will be on the mound for the Freedom opposite Payton Lobdell of the Boomers in a rematch of the 2017 Frontier League Championship Series. First pitch is scheduled for 7:05 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 Way in Florence, KY. The Freedom can be found online at florencefreedom.com, or by phone at (859) 594-4487.

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Frontier League Stories from June 14, 2018


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