After building a three-run lead in the early innings, the Florence Freedom, presented by Titan Mechanical Solutions, saw their lead dwindle and later fell victim to a walk-off home run in a 5-4 loss to the Evansville Otters on Friday night at Bosse Field.
After Collins Cuthrell had tied the game at 4-4 with a solo homer leading off the top of the ninth for the Freedom (30-13), rookie Matt Kaster (0-1) entered to pitch the bottom half and retired the first two batters of the inning before surrendering a walk-off home run to Josh Allen, giving the Otters (24-18) a win in the series opener.
Florence had begun establishing a lead in the second inning, when Cuthrell came to bat with runners on second and third and none out. Driving a fly ball to deep right-center that carried Jeff Gardner to the wall, Cuthrell plated both Andrew Godbold from third and Jordan Brower from second on the play. Jose Brizuela extended Florence’s lead to 3-0 in the third with his team-leading tenth home run of the season, a solo shot off Evansville starter Diego Ibarra. The right-hander labored through his first three innings but recovered to hold the Freedom scoreless from the fourth through the sixth.
Meanwhile, the Otters chipped away against Tony Vocca, beginning in the bottom of the third. Brandon Soat doubled to right-center and advanced to third on a wild pitch before scoring on a groundout by Allen, and Evansville trimmed their deficit to one run on a John Schultz RBI-double off the left-field wall in the fifth. Finished after five innings, Vocca struggled with a high pitch count and issued a season-high four walks while allowing five hits.
With Laetten Galbraith on the mound in relief in the bottom of the sixth and the Freedom leading, 3-2, Evansville’s Nick Walker reached base on a two-out single. Soat delivered a two-run homer to give the Otters their first lead of the evening. The one-run advantage for Evansville would last until Cuthrell’s game-tying blast in the ninth off Randy McCurry (1-1).
The Florence home runs represented Cuthrell’s second straight game and Brizuela’s third straight game with a homer, and the latter’s season totals of ten home runs and 41 runs batted in now rank second in the Frontier League.
The two teams will finish the three-game series with a doubleheader Saturday, with the first game scheduled to begin at 5:35 p.m. at Bosse Field. Left-hander Marty Anderson with pitch for the Freedom
against Evansville right-hander Max Duval in the first game, while righty Sam Brunner will start for Florence in the second game against a yet-to-be-determined Otters starter.
The Florence Freedom are members of the independent Frontier League and play all home games at UC Health Stadium located at 7950 Freedom Way in Florence, KY. The Freedom can be found online at FlorenceFreedom.com, or by phone at 859-594-4487.