Sports stats

FL Florence Y'alls

Galloway, Hall, Posey, Dennison, Keefe Frontier League All Stars

by Chris Meiman
July 6, 2005 - Frontier League (FL)
Florence Y'alls


The Frontier League announced its All Star selections for its 13th annual All Star Game, this year to be played at Falconi Field in Washington, Pennsylvania, and four Florence Freedom players will be included. Elected by the initial ballot were outfielder Mike Galloway, first baseman Trevor Hall, and starting pitcher Joel Posey. It will be the first Frontier League All Star appearance for each player. Manager Jamie Keefe will be the East Division manager by virtue of the Freedom's first place standing at the time of selection. Keefe included starter Mike Dennison in his three additional picks to complete the roster. Keefe also included most of his coaching staff; Will Flynt, Jason Graham, and Jeff Detkus will join host manager John Massarelli on the staff. Similar to Major League Baseball's All Star Game setup, whichever division wins the Frontier League All Star Game, that division's representative will have home field advantage in the Frontier League Championship Series in September. While the first place Freedom were allotted four players, teams behind them did even better. Second place Washington had five players, while third place Evansville had six. Even last place Richmond placed four, the same as Florence. The game will be presented by US Steel and available on Fox Sports Pittsburgh.

To say that the Florence Freedom are streaking into their showdown with West Division leader Kalamazoo would be an understatement. Florence has won 5 of 6 on the current home stand and 8 of 10 overall. Florence is in first place by one game over the Washington Wild Things and by three over the struggling Evansville Otters. The Freedom won the final two games against the nomadic Ohio Valley Redcoats, including a fitting win on July 4. Florence won yesterday's game 5-4 behind solid pitching by Mike Dennison, who raised his record above .500 for the first time all season, at 5-4. Darrin Kinsolving's 8th inning 3 run home run lifted Florence to a 5-3 lead and Curt Moenter recorded the final two outs to nail down the victory. Kinsolving was also the hero on Independence Day as the Freedom outlasted the tyrannical Redcoats 6-5 in 13 innings. It was Kinsolving's seeing eye single that scored the game winning run. Ted Rowe picked up a well deserved win, going 5 innings, striking out 8 and not allowing a run to cross. Justin Fuller blew a two run lead in the 8th inning, giving up a two run home run to Jud Richards, spoiling a great start by Joel Posey. The opening game was a forgettable one for Florence, losing 14-0.

Freedom Flags - Florence welcomed two new players in the past week, infielder Joe Holland and pitcher Curt Moenter. Holland recently completed his college career at Tulane where he hit .293 as the every day second baseman, clubbing six home runs and driving in 31 runs. Joe committed only three errors in 223 chances in the recently completed season where Tulane found itself in the NCAA Super Regionals...Moenter is no stranger to Florence, having played the past two seasons for the Richmond Roosters. Richmond traded Moenter to Florence on June 30. While initially pitching out of the bullpen, Florence hopes Moenter can bring some stability to the fifth starter post. Jason Brunke was bombed for the second straight outing Sunday evening. Moenter was 2-2 with a 4.93 ERA in 10 appearances, including six starts for Richmond. While struggling last season, Moenter was fabulous for the Roosters in 2003, going 4-1 with a 2.76 ERA in 8 starts, striking out 47 and walking only 14 in 49 innings...With arrivals bring exits and two were removed from the Freedom roster. The most surprising move was the dismissal of Lenny Bays. Bays, who lost his closer job to Ted Rowe, was signed yesterday by the Windy City Thunderbolts. Bays last pitched June 29 against Evansville, where he struggled through a three hit, if scoreless inning. Bays was 0-1 with a 5.40 ERA and 7 saves for Florence. Former Xavier Musketeer Brett Smith was also let go after a one week trial in which he posed a 10.80 ERA...Wally Quigg had his 12 game hitting streak stopped Monday with an 0-4 effort, though he did walk three times and scored a run...It was announced in the past week that the Freedom's divisional rival, the Richmond Roosters, will be moving to Traverse City, Michigan beginning next season. The team will be known as the Traverse City Beach Bums. Richmond has been successful on the field, including back to back championships in 2001 and 2002. However, fighting between the Roosters and the city of Richmond as well as very low attendance apparently caused the 11 year marriage to end.

Upcoming Series - Florence will play in a possible Championship Series preview against the Kalamazoo Kings, who currently lead the West Division by a game and a half over River City. The Kings are just about as hot at the Freedom, having won 7 of 10, including 2 of 3 over the Rockford RiverHawks. Eight Kings were selected for the All Star game, most of any team. Jason Bowlin will start tonight for Florence (4-1 3.92) against All Star Lee Naplin (4-2 3.51) in a sure fire pitchers duel. Later in the series, Mark Harris and Jason Brunke are scheduled to pitch for Florence while Kalamazoo with use All Star Joshua Beshears, who pitched a one hit shutout his last time out Thursday and Jeff Garner Friday. Florence will have one small road series before the All Star break, a three game trip to Rockford, Illinois to play the RiverHawks. All games can be heard on choicefmradio.com or on 107.9 FM WRHX in Richwood, Kentucky.

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

Check out the Florence Y'alls Statistics



Frontier League Stories from July 6, 2005


The opinions expressed in this article are those of the writer(s), and do not necessarily reflect the thoughts or opinions of OurSports Central or its staff.

Other Recent Florence Y'alls Stories



Sports Statistics from the Stats Crew
OurSports Central