The Florence Freedom won in thrilling walk-off fashion 6-5 over the Evansville Otters Thursday.
In a wild, back-and-forth game that featured two ties, four lead changes, and a 68-minute rain delay, the Freedom (10-25) scored a pair in the 10th-inning to take the series.
Trailing 5-4 after Evansville (22-15) took the lead in the top of the tenth, Andre Mercurio led off the bottom of the inning by reaching on a slow groundball to shortstop. The next batter, Collins Cuthrell, ripped an RBI double to left-center, scoring Mercurio from first and knotting the score at five. After an intentional walk to Andrew Godbold, Isaac Wenrich moved both runners into scoring position with a ground out to the right side.
Jordan Brower came to the plate as a pinch-hitter and on the first delivery he saw, shot a fly ball to medium left field. Cuthrell tagged on the play, scoring the winning run for the Freedom and setting off the celebration at UC Health Stadium.
After the hour-plus rain delay prior to the ballgame, the Freedom opened the scoring in the first inning. Daniel Fraga singled to leadoff the frame and a pair of walks loaded the bases with two outs. Godbold came to the plate and delivered a key broken-bat base knock to center. Fraga and Austin Newell came in to score, giving Florence a 2-0 advantage.
Florence starter Jeremy Gooding was solid throughout his first four innings, only allowing three hits, one walk, and one run (a home run by Chris Breen in the second), but ran into some trouble in the fifth. With one away, a pair of walks and a single loaded the bases. Christopher Riopedre hit a smash to Taylor Oldham on one hop that the third baseman knocked down and then threw to second, starting a 5-4-3 inning-ending double play.
Gooding ended his outing with 5 2/3 innings of five-hit, one-run ball with three walks and three strikeouts. Pete Levitt struck out Julio Rodriguez to finish off the sixth frame.
A shutdown inning from Matt Pobereyko kept Florence ahead heading to the eighth, but the Otters answered back to take the lead against Ethan Gibbons. With the bases loaded, the Otters drew a hit by pitch and a walk to take the lead 3-2.
Not to be outdone, Godbold once again delivered a key hit for the Freedom, launching a two-run home run to right field, and giving Florence a 4-3 lead.
Tony Vocca, who came on in relief of Gibbons in the eighth, looked to shut it down in the ninth, but the Otters manufactured a run to keep the game going. After Vocca walked the first two men he faced, Florence called upon TJ Bozeman. With the tying run 90 feet away, Bozeman got a strikeout, but, after a lengthy at bat, a sacrifice fly from Breen brought home the tying run for Evansville.
The Otters took the lead again in the 10th, but the Freedom bounced back to take the series in the bottom half of the inning.
Godbold and Cuthrell led Florence offensively, combining for four of Florence’s seven hits and five of the team’s six RBIs. Bozeman ended up with the win as the sixth pitcher to throw in the ballgame for the Freedom.
Evansville’s Rolando Gomez finished with a team-leading three hits, while Breen drove in two.
The Freedom look to carry the momentum of Thursday’s thrilling victory into their weekend series against the Normal CornBelters. First pitch of game one against Normal is Friday at 7:05 p.m. Stetson Nelson (0-3, 5.64 ERA) will take the hill for Florence against RHP Mike Schweiss (2-2, 2.33 ERA).
From Freedom Communications