Freedom Get a Win
August 21, 2009 - Frontier League (FL)
Florence Y'alls News Release
FLORENCE, KY - In a must win game the Florence Freedom hung on late as they took down the Rockford RiverHawks 4-2 Friday night at Champion Window Field.
The Freedom (39-42) might just have to win every single game from here on out if they want to keep their chances of making the playoffs alive. Entering the night, Florence was seven games back of two teams, needing to jump over a third, just to tie for the final wild card birth with 16 games left to play.
Johnny Welch got the Freedom on the board with a third inning two-run homer off Mikael Ryder. Welch's 12th of the season came after Ryder retired the first six he faced entering the third inning, but then allowed the next five to reach in the third.
With a 2-0 lead in the third, the Freedom had the bases loaded against Ryder but were only able to score once more on a sacrifice fly by Justin Pickett.
Rockford came right back with a run in the fourth against Preston Vancil. With two outs, Alex Bardeguez drove in Derrick Walker to make it 3-1.
Florence put together a two out rally in the seventh to score its final run. After Matt Stiffler doubled, Tim Grogan connected for his second hit of the night to make it 4-1.
After some excitement in the ninth, Jonathan Miller entered for a two out save, his tenth. With the score 4-2, the right-hander got Walker, the tying run at the plate, to fly out to right.
Vancil improved to 5-2 on the season after the right-hander went 5 2/3 innings, throwing 128 pitches.
The Freedom evened up their season series with the RiverHawks at 2-2. The two teams will meet again Saturday night for game two of the series at Champion Window Field. Game time is scheduled for 6:05 p.m.
Frontier League Stories from August 21, 2009
- Kings Take Opener - Gateway Grizzlies
- Miners Win on Walk Off - Southern Illinois Miners
- Rascals Blast Three Homers In 6-2 Victory - River City Rascals
- Freedom Get a Win - Florence Y'alls
- Wild Things Swept in Double Header - Washington Wild Things
- Bolts sweep Wild Things - Windy City ThunderBolts
- RiverHawks Lose Again, 4-2 - Rockford RiverHawks
- Crushers Pull Away from Otters - Evansville Otters
- Rascals Beat Bums - Traverse City Beach Bums
- Home Sweet Home for Crushers - Lake Erie Crushers
- Kalamazoo Kings to Celebrate Manager's Birthday - Kalamazoo Kings
- Sliders Slip 12-9 - Midwest Sliders of Ypsilanti
- Otters earn 12-9 victory - Evansville Otters
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