FL Florence Y'alls

Freedom Walk-Off in Opener with Boomers

Published on June 15, 2018 under Frontier League (FL)
Florence Y'alls News Release


FLORENCE, Ky - In a rematch of the 2017 Frontier League Championship Series, the Florence Freedom, presented by Titan Mechanical Solutions, beat the Schaumburg Boomers, 5-4, in walk off fashion to take the opener of weekend series on Friday at UC Health Stadium.

The Freedom (15-16) rallied with out in the bottom of the ninth, when Xavier Turner roped the first of three singles in the frame off Boomers (15-15) reliever, Dylan Stutsman (1-1). Austin Wobrock followed with a single of his own to put the winning run at third before Schaumburg elected to intentionally walk Ricky Ramirez Jr. to load the bases. Andre Mercurio had the night off, but Freedom manager, Dennis Pelfrey chose to pinch-hit the lefty for Jimmy Heck with the game on the line. Mercurio promptly laced a base hit to center, scoring Turner and giving the Freedom their first walk-off win of the season, 5-4, over the defending Frontier League Champion, Boomers. Johnathon Tripp (2-0) tallied the win in relief, tossing 1.2 innings of scoreless baseball over the eighth and ninth frames.

Schaumburg took an early, 2-0, lead in the top of the third, courtesy a Sean Godfrey ground-out with runners on second and third and an ensuing RBI-single from Collin Ferguson.

The Freedom quickly tied the game at two in their next at-bat, however. After Chandler Rodriguez led off with a base hit to right, Austin Wobrock tapped an infield single that featured a Boomers throwing error at short, allowing Rodriguez to score and Wobrock to slide in safely at third base. Three batters later, Jordan Brower deadlocked the score with a sacrifice fly to center. Brower would break the, 2-2, tie in his next at-bat, crushing his third home run of the season, a solo shot to right center that put Florence in front by one. Keivan Berges followed with a stand-up double and later scored from third on a Connor Crane sacrifice fly as the Freedom jumped in front, 4-2.

Freedom starter, Cody Gray exited the game after six innings, notching his third quality start but swallowing a no-decision. His final line included six innings, a pair of Schaumburg runs on six hits with two strikeouts and two walks.

Payton Lobdell went toe-to-toe with Gray finishing his night after 5.2 innings. The righty allowed four runs, two earned while walking three and whiffing three more.

With two runners in scoring position and two outs in the top of the seventh, Ferguson delivered a clutch two-run single off Florence southpaw Pat McGrath to again tie the score, this time at four.

Florence and Schaumburg will square off two more times over the weekend. On Saturday, Florence will send right-hander Zach Kirby to the mound with Schaumburg tabbing right-hander Steven Ridings. First pitch is scheduled for 6:05 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 15, 2018


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