The Florence Freedom, presented by Titan Mechanical Solutions, dropped the final game of their road trip 4-1 to Washington.
Despite not being able to complete their fourth series win in a row, the Freedom (16-28) finished the trip 4-2 and head home for a big four-game series with division-leading Southern Illinois.
Washington found the scoreboard in the opening frame. Andrew Heck led off the first with a double, moved to third on a groundout, and scored on a sacrifice fly. Florence starter Davis Adkins settled down from there, sitting down 15 of the next 16 batters he faced.
In the second, the Freedom bounced back to tie the score. With two away, Isaac Wenrich hit a broken-bat single to center. Then Garrett Vail ripped a double to the wall in left-center, plating Wenrich from first and tying the score at one.
Both starters kept the opposing offenses at bay for the next four innings, only allowing one base runner each.
The Wild Things broke the game open in the sixth. A walk and a single put two men on, which was the first time in the game that Washington had two men on base against Adkins. The next batter, Ricky Rodriguez, hit a home run to left, putting the Wild Things ahead 4-1.
Washington pitchers Brian O’Keefe (win) and Kolin Stanley (nine-out save) did not allow a Freedom base runner after the third-inning single to Newell. They sat down the final 19 that they faced.
Vail had the Freedom’s lone extra-base hit on the second-inning RBI double, while Newell had two of the Freedom’s four hits. Adkins finished with a complete game and a career-high eight strikeouts, but allowed four runs on four hits in the loss.
The game lasted just 1:47, which is by far the shortest nine-inning game for the Freedom this season. As a whole, the two teams had eight hits and struck out 18 times.
Florence begins a big four-game series with the Southern Illinois Miners tomorrow, July Fourth. Jeremy Gooding (3-4, 3.83 ERA) will get the ball for Florence against Josh Kimborowicz (6-0, 2.26 ERA). First pitch is scheduled for 7:05 p.m.
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The Florence Freedom are members of the 12-team professional Independent Frontier League. The team plays a 96 game schedule, with 48 home games at UC Health Stadium, located at 7950 Freedom Way in Florence.