Cincinnati native Casey Henn delivered the highlight of the season so far on Wednesday as he fired the second no-hitter in team history in an 8-0 victory for the Florence Freedom over the Washington Wild Things.
The win helped the Freedom split a double header with Washington. The Wild Things took game one by a score of 2-1.
Henn (2-6) dominated Washington as he struck out nine batters in the no-no. The only batters to reach base were on two errors, a walk, and a hit by pitch.
Florence scored six runs in the first inning to give Henn plenty of run support. Justin Harris walked to start the frame and Daniel Fraga doubled him home. Collins Cuthrell singled home Fraga and advanced to second on a Kyle Carter walk. After Sam Eberle hit into a fielder’s choice, Cody Bishop drove in Cuthrell with a sacrifice fly. Gaby Juarbe drew a walk and Travis Weaver doubled in two runs. Sean Mahley singled home Weaver and when the dust cleared the Freedom led 6-0.
Henn took it from there, getting a double play and a strike out to work around an error and a walk in the first inning. He retired the side in order in the second and worked around a second Freedom error in the third. Henn hit a batter with two outs in the fourth but got the next hitter to fly out to right to end the inning.
After that, no one else reached base as Henn retired the final 10 batters he faced in order in the seven-inning contest. Per league rules, all double headers in the Frontier League are seven innings each. Henn finished the night in style by striking out four of the final six batters he faced, including Lee Orr to end the game.
Preston Vancil threw the first no-hitter in Freedom history in 2009 and now Henn joins him as the only pitchers to toss no-no’s for Florence.
Florence dropped game one of the double header 2-1 despite getting a home run from Kyle Carter in his first professional at bat on the first pitch he saw in the second inning. Washington pushed ahead the go-ahead run in the sixth and Florence left the tying run at third in the seventh.
But Henn’s no-hitter soon made the first game an afterthought at UC Health Stadium.
Florence will look to take the rubber match of the three-game series on Thursday. First pitch is set for 6:35 p.m. It’s Independence Community Night and the Freedom are raising money for the late Cincinnati police officer Sonny Kim’s family. Details are here.
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From Freedom Communications