The Florence Freedom used a mound combination of Jeremy Gooding, Seth Harvey, Ethan Gibbons and Ed Kohout to toss a three-hit shutout against the Schaumburg Boomers Sunday afternoon as the quartet combined for a 5-0 shutout.
The win marks the Freedom’s third series sweep of the season and their second of the Boomers at Boomers Stadium. It’s the Freedom’s fifth straight win, matching their longest winning streak of the year.
Gooding (6-4) earned the win by tossing six innings of shutout ball. He struck out six batters, allowed only two hits and did not walk anyone. Seth Harvey worked a 1-2-3 seventh. Ethan Gibbons struck out a pair in the eighth and Ed Kohout worked a scoreless ninth.
Florence got on the board in the second against Schaumburg starter Evan Boyd (0-5) on an Andrew Godbold two-run home run.
Godbold got the offense going again in the fifth with a lead-off single. He stole second and moved to third on a Travis Weaver infield single. Steve Carrillo drove him in with a sacrifice fly to make it 3-0 in favor of Florence.
Florence tacked on two more in the ninth on a bases loaded walk from Josh Henderson and an infield single off the bat of Isaac Wenrich.
The Freedom welcome the Rockford Aviators to town on Wednesday as the teams will square off in a crucial doubleheader as the Freedom are chasing the Aviators for the final playoff spot. First pitch of game one is set for 5:35 p.m. at UC Health Stadium.
Wednesday is Striking Out Cancer Night presented by Thornton’s at UC Health Stadium. Click here for more details.
Fans who can’t make the game can tune in at mixlr.com/florencefreedom/.
In Saturday’s action, Florence scored four runs in the first inning for the second straight night and never looked back in another 7-3 win over the Schaumburg Boomers.
The win marks the Freedom’s fourth consecutive victory and clinches their third straight series win.
Coleman Stephens (4-4), in his return from the disabled list, went five and two thirds innings, giving up three runs on five hits to pick up the win.
Austin Newell’s two-RBI triple in the first off Schaumburg starter Tyler Thurber (1-4) put Florence up 2-0. Sam Eberle followed with a RBI single. Frazier Hall singled Eberle to third and Collins Cuthrell’s sacrifice fly drove in Eberle to make it 4-0 in favor of the Freedom.
The Freedom tallied two more in the second. Eberle singled home yet another run and Cuthrell was hit by a pitch with the bases loaded to make it 6-0.
Schaumburg would get a run back in the fifth but Florence responded in the sixth. Newell singled, move to third on a Hall single, and scored on a wild pitch to extend the lead to 7-1.
Schaumburg scored two in the bottom of the sixth and loaded the bases with two outs, but Tony Vocca got the final out of the inning to get Florence out of the jam.
He would go on to toss three and a third shutout innings to earn his first save of the year, striking out five along the way.
From Freedom Communications