FL Florence Y'alls

Freedom Take Two of Three from Mavs – Move into Three-Way Tie for First

by Chris Meiman
June 17, 2005 - Frontier League (FL)
Florence Y'alls


The Florence Freedom did exactly what they were supposed to do when they started a three game series against the worst team in the Frontier League, and that is win the series. Florence won the rubber game by a convincing 16-2 margin over the Mid-Missouri Mavericks, moving into a three-way tie for first place with Washington and Evansville. Fourth place Chillicothe is only one game out.

Florence was led by light hitting shortstop Josh Sanchez, who hit his first home run of the season, a three run shot in the fifth to give the Freedom the lead, and drove in four runs on the evening. Designated Hitter Kyle Geswein hit his sixth home run of the season, a grand slam as part of the 10 run 9th inning to put the game away. Mark Harris allowed two runs, one earned, over five innings two pick up his second win without defeat. Former starter Jason Sena has been untouchable since his banishment to the bullpen. Sena pitched the final four frames, allowing four hits and no runs to pick up his first save. Sena has pitched 6 1/3 scoreless innings since becoming a reliever. Mavs starter Augustin Rodriguez pitched four perfect innings before the wheels fell off in the 5th; his record is now 0-2. Zach Schmidt, who seems to have supplanted fellow Cincinnatian Jeremy Ison as the regular third baseman, collected three RBI on two hits. Left Fielder Brandon Cornell went 4-5 and scored 3 runs and is hitting .311 on the season. Right Fielder Mike Galloway went 1-3 to keep his season-long hitting streak going at 21 games. He is only 9 games away from the Frontier League single season record of 30 set in 2001 by River City's Michael Robertson.

Galloway and First Baseman Trevor Hall are among the lead leaders in nearly every offensive category. Galloway is 3rd in the Frontier League in batting, with a .414 average. His home run Wednesday (9) allowed him to stay one ahead of Hall (8) for the league lead. Galloway and Hall are also 1-2 in RBI; 27 for Galloway, 24 for Hall and Slugging Percentage; .793 to .776. Hall leads Galloway in Extra Base Hits, 17-15. Galloway leads in hits with 36, Hall is 4th with 33. Galloway is 2nd in Runs scored with 23 and Hall is the co-leader in doubles with 9. Freedom closer Lenny Bays picked up his league leading 6th save Wednesday night and Mike Dennison is 3rd in strikeouts with 31. Josh Sanchez has hit in 6 in a row to raise his average to .227.

Florence earned a hard-fought victory Wednesday night 6-4 over the Mavs, led by Galloway's two-run home run in the 5th inning to give Florence a lead they would not relinquish. Kyle Geswein added a solo home run and Jason Bowlin scattered nine hits over six innings, allowing only two runs to pick up his third victory with no defeats. Lenny Bays, in his only appearance against his former team, got the last two outs to record the save. Tuesday night saw Mavericks starter Dennis Shuck pitch a complete game, scattering nine hits and three runs (two earned) to square his record at 2 and 2. The Mavs defeated a tired Florence team 12-3. Freedom starter Mike Dennison had easily his worst start in Florence, giving up 12 hits and 8 runs (6 earned) over 3 2/3 innings, including 3 home runs. Steve Boychuk was no relief for Dennison, allowing four more runs on two home runs in recording only two outs. The lone bright spot was Trevor Hall, who drove in two including a solo home run.

The Freedom said goodbye to Columbia and the Mid-Missouri Mavericks and hello to O'Fallon and the River City Rascals to continue their tour of the Show Me State. River City is 12-8 on the season, 1 ½ games behind Rockford and Kalamazoo in the West Division of the Frontier League. The Rascals won two of three from Chillicothe and have won 6 of 10. River City thrives on its strong pitching, posting a team 3.46 ERA, second best in the Frontier League, led by a very strong bullpen. The key is that they walk the fewest batters in the league, 59 compared with 90 for Florence. It is on the offensive end that the Rascals have struggled, hitting only .248 on the season, nearly 30 points lower than the Freedom. Florence, of course leads the league in home runs with 33, 7 better than the next team and 22 better than the Rascals. Power hitting pitcher Kyle Geswein (0-0 7.04) will put away his bat for a day and take the mound for the Freedom against Steven Brook (3-0 4.10). Joel Posey and Mike Dennison will take the mound for Florence later in the series to oppose Brian Keating and Jon Troop. The Freedom will return to Champion Windows Field Tuesday afternoon to begin a six game home stand against Mid-Missouri and River City. All Freedom games can be heard online at choicefmradio.com or on the radio at WZFR 97.7 or WRHX 107.9 in Northern Kentucky.

Chris Meiman covers Florence Freedom Baseball and Cincinnati minor league hockey. He can be reached at chrismeiman@yahoo.com.

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