Florence won game one of a doubleheader with the Rockford Aviators by a score of 5-2 but fell in game two by a count of 3-2 Wednesday night.
With the doubleheader split the Freedom are two games back of both the Aviators and the Evansville Otters in the Wild Card race.
In game one the Freedom got on the board in the second inning against Rockford starter David Diaz (1-5). Sam Eberle, who went 3-6 in the twin bill, led off the second with a double. Frazier Hall moved him to third and Josh Henderson drove him in with a ground ball out.
Florence tacked on another run in the third as Daniel Fraga singled with one out. Zac Mitchell singled him to third and Austin Newell drove Fraga home with a sacrifice fly to make it 2-0 in favor of Florence.
Rockford responded in the top of the fourth as they tied the game against Freedom starter Cody Gray. Anthony Renteria homered to lead-off the frame. Cameron Garfield singled and Dusty Robinson doubled him home.
But Florence got things rolling again in the bottom of the fourth to take the lead for good. Frazier Hall singled to start the frame. Two outs later Travis Weaver reached on a single and Steve Carrillo singled as well to load the bases. A passed ball scored Hall and Daniel Fraga delivered a two-RBI single to make it 5-2 in favor of the Freedom.
Florence’s bullpen took it from there as Pete Levitt (6-2) earned the win with two thirds of an inning of shutout ball. Ethan Gibbons provided the bridge to Ed Kohout, who picked up his 16th save of the season.
Game two was a struggle for Florence’s offense against Rockford starter Tony Rizzotti (8-2). He struck out nine batters in six and a third innings while allowing only two runs on three hits.
Meanwhile the Aviators grabbed the lead in the second against Patrick McGrath (1-2) thanks to an Elijah Trail two-run home run. Eberle cut the deficit to 2-1 in the fourth as he launched his seventh home run of the season. But Rockford responded in the fifth with another run as Devon Rodriguez drove in Raul Linares with a RBI grounder.
Down 3-1, the Freedom rallied in the seventh. With one away, Eberle doubled. Frazier Hall followed with a walk and the Aviators went to the bullpen to bring in Colby Holmes. Holmes struck out Andrew Godbold but Isaac Wenrich delivered an RBI single to cut the deficit to 3-2, putting the tying run at third and the winning run at first.
Unfortunately Henderson popped out to end the game as Florence failed to gain any ground on Rockford and dropped a game further behind Evansville.
The Freedom play a crucial rubber match on Thursday as a win would mean the Freedom would be one game back of Rockford for the last playoff spot and they would hold the tiebreaker as they would win the season series five games to four. However a loss would put Florence three games back and they would lose the tiebreaker.
First pitch on Thursday is set for 6:35 p.m. Coleman Stephens (4-4, 4.48 ERA) takes the mound for Florence.
Fans who can’t make the game can tune in at mixlr.com/florencefreedom/.
From Freedom Communications