The River City Rascals denied the Florence Freedom any chances at revenge for last years Wild Card game by taking a pair of wins 7-2 and 4-2 on Wednesday.
Game One
River City jumped out to an early lead in the second inning of game one after a trio of singles from Josh Silver, Griff Gordon, and Mike Jurgella, plated Silver and gave the Rascals an early one-run advantage. It didn’t take long for River City to extend their lead, and once again it was Josh Silver to deliver the blow. He came to the plate with the bases loaded and took a 3-2 fastball down the heart of the plate over the left field wall to make the lead 5-0.
The Freedom were able to push a runs across the plate in consecutive innings during the fifth and sixth. Garrett Vail scored the first run for Florence on a Daniel Fraga single and Austin Newell came around to score on a Josh Henderson base hit.
Despite loading the bases in the seventh inning, the Freedom could not plate another run in falling to the Rascals 7-2.
Jeremy Gooding’s second start of the year wasn’t one to remember as he went four innings, allowing five runs on seven hits and struck out five.
TJ Bozeman came into replace Gooding, facing seven hitters and recording two outs after allowing two runs on two hits. Pete Levitt came in to get the final out of the inning, Dominique Taylor, to line out to Fraga at second base. The journeyman reliever for the Freedom, Tony Vocca, was responsible for finishing out the ball game. Vocca didn’t allow anybody to cross the plate and only walked one hitter in his two innings on the mound.
Game Two
The Freedom led heading into the seventh and final inning, but dropped game two of the doubleheader 4-2 in extras.
With a one-run lead in the seventh, Florence called upon Ethan Gibbons to earn the save, but an error cost him. Griff Gordon, s pinch-hitter, reached on an error by Daniel Fraga. Taylor followed it up with a single and a sacrifice bunt put two in scoring position with one out. Kyle Gaedele ripped a long fly ball to the track, which gave plenty of distance for Gordon to score from third.
The Rascals then scored two in the eighth off of Matt Pobreryko. A two-RBI double by Willi Martin was the difference.
The starters dominated the early innings. After allowing a single and a walk to the first two batters he faced, Brandon Bargas retired eight in a row and kept the Rascals scoreless through his first three innings. On the opposing side, Lucas Laster limited the Freedom offense to just one hit in his 4 1/3 innings.
River City opened the scoring in the fourth inning. Bargas allowed the first two men to reach again and, after a pair of quick outs, Willi Martin came through with an RBI single up the middle.
After Laster left the game in the fifth, Nick Kennedy allowed a hit to Stephen Sunday and then Elvin Rodriguez reached on an error. The next batter, Daniel Fraga, bounced a ball to shortstop that could have been a double play, but the relay to first was wide, allowing Sunday to score from second on the play. Taylor Oldham then ripped a single to center, bringing Fraga home and giving the Freedom its first lead of the doubleheader.
Bargas was solid throughout his outing, allowing seven hits and one run in 5 1/3 innings, while striking out two and walking three. Pete Levitt struck out the first batter he faced in the sixth and then Daniel Fraga robbed Willi Martin of a base hit by sliding well into the hole at second and firing to first for the third out.
Boone County Community Night
The Florence Freedom are hosting the River City Rascals Thursday night in what will be much more than just a baseball game.
The Freedom have partnered with the Boone County Schools to make this Boone County Community Night a special one. When fans enter the promo code “schools”, $2 of their online ticket purchase will go back to the Boone Country Education Foundation.
It is also the first Thirsty Thursday of the 2016 season, which means $1 domestic beers and $4 craft beers.
There will also be appearances from everyone’s favorite cowboy, cowgirl, and space ranger. With so much to offer for the entire family, this will be a night fans will not want to miss.
The first pitch is set for 7:05 p.m. Order tickets here.
From Freedom Communications