With a chance to clinch the West Divison, the Florence Freedom, presented by Titan Mechanical Solutions, fought back from an early deficit but eventually fell, 4-3, in eleven innings to the Gateway Grizzlies on Friday at UC Health Stadium.
Through his first seven innings, Freedom (55-34) starter Steve Hagen allowed just two Gateway (29-59) runs, both coming with two out in the top of the second inning on an Evan Rogers RBI-single and a run-scoring double off the wall in right-center by Brent Gillespie.
But in the bottom half, Collins Cuthrell homered to left field off Will Anderson, trimming the Freedom’s deficit to one run, and in the third, after Austin Wobrock doubled and advanced to third on a groundout, Daniel Fraga lined a RBI-single to right-center to tie the score at 2-2.
Neither team would score for the next two innings, but in the bottom of the sixth, with Trevor Bauer on the mound in relief for the Grizzlies, Florence loaded the bases. Jordan Brower led off with a single and Garrett Vail was hit by a pitch, and after a pair of flyouts, Fraga walked to load the bases for Taylor Oldham, who worked a six-pitch walk to force home the go-ahead run.
Failing to extend their lead, however, the Freedom would leave the bases full, and left a total of 15 runners on base in the game.
With Hagen still on the mound for Florence, Gateway tied the score at 3-3 on a two-out RBI-single by Terry McClure in the top of the eighth. Jamal Wilson entered to record the final out of the eighth and followed with a scoreless ninth inning, and Pete Perez kept the Grizzlies off the scoreboard in the tenth.
But the Freedom failed to take advantage of a walk and a single with one out in the bottom of the tenth, and in the top of the eleventh inning, Mike Anthony (0-2) would allow a sacrifice fly to Rogers, giving Gateway its second lead of the game. The Freedom put two on base in the bottom half via the international tiebreaker rule and an Andre Mercurio hit-by-pitch with one out. But with the tying and winning runs on base, Cuthrell struck out swinging, and Oldham was thrown out attempting to steal third on the same pitch, ending the game.
Kyle Richards (1-0) received the win in relief for the Grizzlies, holding the Freedom scoreless on just one hit over two innings of work.
Despite the loss, a Windy City ThunderBolts loss to the Washington Wild Things allowed the Freedom to clinch a postseason berth.
The series continues Saturday with first pitch scheduled for 6:05 p.m. at UC Health Stadium. Braulio Torres-Perez (5-2) will start for the Freedom against a yet-to-be-determined Gateway 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.
Florence Freedom