ThunderBolts Drop Dramatic Series Finale to Florence
FL Windy City ThunderBolts

ThunderBolts Drop Dramatic Series Finale to Florence

Published on July 2, 2026 under Frontier League (FL)
Windy City ThunderBolts News Release


CRESTWOOD, Ill. - In a game that featured plenty of offense early and plenty of pitching late, the Windy City ThunderBolts dropped the rubber match to the Florence Y'alls Sunday evening 10-8 at Ozinga Field.

Florence (25-21) kicked off the early scoring party with a four-spot in the top of the first inning on the back of three hits and two free passes.

Windy City (24-22) responded in the home half of the first in a hurry on a leadoff solo blast to left field off the bat of Michael Sandle.

The Y'alls posted another crooked number in the top of the second, scoring five runs off a pair of home runs from Brendan Bobo and Zade Richardson to open an early 9-1 lead.

The Bolts clawed back into the game in the home half of the third inning, scoring six runs on the back of seven consecutive two-out base runners.

Justin Fogel singled and Jared Beebe doubled in front of a Carlos Pena three-run homer to cut into the deficit initially. Then, Liam McArthur plated Victor Cerny and Daryl Ruiz with a bases clearing double before James Dunlap capped off the six-run frame with an RBI base hit to cut the Florence lead to 9-7.

From then on, both offenses settled down. It wasn't until the top of the seventh that either team got back in the run column.

After the Y'alls added a run of insurance in the top of the seventh inning, the ThunderBolts took a 10-7 deficit into the bottom of the ninth inning.

Pena led off the ninth with a walk and eventually came around to score on Dunlap's second RBI base knock of the ball game. Then, with the tying run aboard, pinch-hitter Robbie Ayers went down on strikes to end the Bolts' hopes of a comeback.

Logan Jones (3-1) picked up the win for Florence, pitching 2.1 innings of scoreless baseball out of the bullpen. ThunderBolt starter Blake Nettleton (0-2) was hit with the loss. He allowed nine runs on eight hits in four innings of work. Although it wasn't clean, Aiden McEvoy notched his league-leading 11th save of the season.

The ThunderBolts return to action Friday for the first of a three-game series against the Lake Erie Crushers. Liam Hohenstein (0-1, 5.94) gets the starting nod for the Bolts against Lake Erie's Fraynel Nova (1-6, 6.65). First pitch is scheduled for 6:00 p.m. CDT and broadcast information is available at wcthunderbolts.com.

Check out the Windy City ThunderBolts Statistics

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