FL Florence Y'alls

Jim Jacquot's 9th Inning Walk off Two-Run Home Run Lifts Freedom Past Beach Bums 5-4

May 20, 2012 - Frontier League (FL)
Florence Y'alls News Release


FLORENCE, KY- There was no shortage of home runs from either team, as the Florence Freedom and the Traverse City Beach Bums combined for 11 home runs in the three-game series to open the season.

A pair of Seattle Mariners products, Florence's Maxx Catapano and Traverse City's Bennett Whitmore, faced off in the final game of the series. It was up to Whitmore and the Beach Bums to seal the deal and sweep Florence in the season's opening series.

Catapano, however, came out determined to give the Freedom their first victory in their last nine games, dating back to the end of last season. Catapano threw 83 pitches, giving up three runs in seven innings. The only runs he gave up came in the 4th when Jose Vargas hit his second homer of the series, a two run shot to left center, as well as a solo shot by the next batter Chase Burch.

The left-handed Whitmore was pitching a shutout through five innings until the 6th, when he gave up two walks, a run, leaving two on the bases with one out. Through the first two games, the Beach Bum bullpen had totaled 6.2 scoreless innings when Sam Brown relieved Whitmore in the 6th.

The tides began to change in the 7th as Eddie Rodriguez doubled to leadoff the inning and eventually scored on a David Harris single. Harris also scored off a one-out groundout by Drew Rundle, giving the Freedom their first lead of the series.

After 7 innings, the Freedom led 3-2 and relied on Brandon Mathes to set up closer Stephen Shackleford in the 8th. After allowing five runs in his first outing, he showed why Manager Fran Riordan called on him to pitch in a tight ballgame. He threw a perfect 8th, striking out two batters.

As the Freedom faithful were on the edge of their seats going into the 9th, the Freedom's Stephen Shackleford entered the game for his first save opportunity of the season. Unlike the night before when he tossed a scoreless 9th, Shackleford recorded his first blown save of the year when he surrendered a two-run home run to right center to Jeff Flagg, his second long ball of the game.

Forced to bat in the bottom of the 9th and down by one, the Freedom faced Beach Bum closer Scott Mueller, who recorded his first save the previous night. What the Freedom were not able to do the previous night against Mueller, they were able to in the final game of the series.

David Harris led off in the bottom of the 9th and forced a five-pitch walk. With a runner on and nobody out, catcher Jim Jacquot came to the plate. On a two-ball and one-strike count, Jacquot took a high and inside pitch from Mueller and belted his second homer of the series, giving the Freedom their first win of the season.

The Freedom have two days off before the Rockford Riverhawks come into town for a three-game series, the first of which beginning at 7:05 on May 22 at the Home of the Florence Freedom. Tickets are on sell and can be purchased online at www.florencefreedom.com.

If you can't make it to the ballpark, you can tune into RealTalk1160 and realtalk1160.com to catch every second of Florence Freedom baseball all season long.

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