Despite a strong start from Jeremy Gooding, the Florence Freedom fell in extra innings for the second night in a row, this time 3-2 to the Schaumburg Boomers in 11 innings.
The International Rule came into effect in the 11th, which put Taylor Oldham on second base for the Freedom (5-10) to begin the inning. Austin Newell singled and then stole second, putting two men in scoring position with one away. After a Collins Cuthrell strikeout, Isaac Wenrich looped a ball down the left-field line that landed a couple of inches foul, denying the Freedom of two runs. A couple of pitches later, Wenrich grounded out to first to end the inning.
In the bottom half of the frame, the Boomers (5-11) bunted their International Rule runner from second to third and won the game when Mark Nelson ripped a ball into the right-center field gap.
The Freedom left seven men in scoring position and outhit the Boomers 10-6 in the loss. Gooding returned to his solid form, tossing 5 2/3 innings of one-run ball (four hits, one walk, five strikeouts), while retiring 12 in a row at one point.
Florence opened the scoring in the sixth. Oldham led off the inning with a single down the right-field line, moved to third on Newell’s groundout, and scored on Seigel’s RBI double. Seigel finished the game 3-for-5 with two doubles.
Schaumburg quickly answered in the bottom half of the frame. After Gooding recorded two quick outs, Jordan Dean hit a chopper to third that ricocheted off of Oldham’s glove for a double. Paul Kronenfeld followed with an RBI single to knot the score at one.
Schaumburg took the lead in the seventh. Andrew Millner allowed a single and a walk before Tony Vocca replaced him. Both runners advanced on a passed ball, but Vocca struck out two consecutive hitters. After hitting Justin Byrd with a pitch, Nelson scored the go-ahead run for the Boomers on a wild pitch.
The Freedom rallied in the ninth to send the game into extras. Seigel led off the inning by scorching a base hit to center. The centerfielder Byrd tried to play the ball on one hop, but the ball got by him and Seigel moved to third on the error. The next batter, Cuthrell, singled through the left side, scoring Seigel and knotting the score up at two.
Ethan Gibbons shut the door in the tenth with a runner on third, but allowed the unearned, winning run in the 11th.
Once again the Freedom bullpen was solid as Pete Levitt, Millner, Vocca, Pobereyko, and Gibbons combined to toss 4 2/3 of two-run baseball (one earned), while allowing just three hits and two walks. At the plate, Seigel led Florence, while Josh Henderson and Newell also posted multi-hit games.
Schaumburg starter Seth Webster tossed seven innings and allowed seven hits and one run, while striking out seven. Jake Joyce took the win after escaping the 11th-inning jam. Kronenfeld and Nelson finished with four of Schaumburg’s six hits.
Florence looks to take game two of the series Wednesday when they trot out left-hander, and former Boomer, Brandon Bargas for a 6:30 p.m. first pitch (7:30 p.m. Eastern time).
From Freedom Communications