Freedom Can't Hold on to Lead against Grizzlies
Published on July 30, 2014 under Frontier League (FL)
Florence Y'alls News Release
(Florence, KY) - Landon Hernandez hit three two-run home runs and a wild pitch pushed across the go-ahead run in the ninth as the Gateway Grizzlies (38-26) came from behind to knock off the Florence Freedom (25-37) by a final score of 7-6 Wednesday night.
It's the sixth straight loss for the Freedom and their third straight by one run.
Hernandez hit his first two-run home run in the first inning off Freedom starter Peter Gehle to give the Grizzlies an early 2-0 lead.
The Freedom responded in the bottom of the third as Cole Miles and Sam Eberle delivered RBI singles to tie the game at two.
Florence appeared to take control of the game in the fourth as they scored four times to take a 6-2 lead. First Adam Taylor delivered a RBI single. Then Miles cranked his sixth home run of the season, a three-run shot to right to put Florence up by four.
Prior to Wednesday they had only blown one four-run lead all season.
Hernandez continued his offensive explosion with another two-run home run in the fifth to cut Florence's lead to 6-4.
Then in the seventh Michael Wing singled with two outs and the Freedom took Gehle out of the game and brought in Daniel DeSimone to face Hernandez.
It made no difference as he clobbered his third two-run home run of the game on the very first pitch he saw from DeSimone.
In the ninth reliever Chris Squires (0-1) gave up an infield single to Madison Beaird. A sacrifice bunt moved the runner over and Squires proceeded to walk Michael Johnson. He struck out Michael Wing for the second out of the inning, bringing Hernandez to the plate.
Instead of facing Hernandez, the Freedom elected to walk him to load the bases. Unfortunately Squires would uncork a wild pitch during the next at bat and Beaird came in to score the go-ahead run.
The Freedom got two runners on base in the ninth but did not score as Richard Barrett picked up his 12th save of the season for Gateway.
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The Florence Freedom are members of the Frontier League of Professional Baseball. The Frontier League is the oldest continuously operating independent professional league, entering its 22nd season in 2014. For more information about the Frontier League visit www.frontierleague.com.
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