Cody Gray was dominant on the hill and offense was in large supply as the Florence Freedom, presented by Titan Mechanical Solutions, routed the Normal CornBelters, 12-1, to finish off a series sweep in the regular-season finale on Sunday at UC Health Stadium.
Jumping out to a five-run lead in the bottom of the third, Florence (61-35) used a trio of RBI-singles from Taylor Oldham, Collins Cuthrell and Jordan Brower off Normal (48-48) starter Charlie Gillies (7-10) to set up an Austin Wobrock two-run double as the Freedom moved in front, 5-0.
Nolan Meadows disturbed Cody Gray’s (10-4) shutout in the top of the fourth, hitting his team-leading twelfth home run of the season, a line-drive solo shot to right field that brought the CornBelters within four.
In the home half of the sixth, however, Aaron Brill followed a Keivan Berges double with his first home run as a member of the Freedom, a towering drive to left off Normal reliever Chance Simpson that extended the Freedom lead to 7-1. Florence would score five more runs off Ben McKendall in the seventh, aided by another Oldham RBI-single, Mike Morris’ first homer of the season, a two-run Ozzy Braff single and a Ryan Rinksy walk with the bases loaded.
Gray logged seven dominant innings on the bump, surrendering only one run on three scattered hits with five strikeouts. Enrique Zamora and Sam Brunner each provided one scoreless inning of relief in Gray’s wake, with neither allowing a CornBelter to reach base.
The Western Division-champion Freedom will take the field again on the road Tuesday in the first game of the Frontier League’s divisional round of the postseason, opposing either the Washington Wild Things or the Evansville Otters at a yet-to-be-determined time, pending results elsewhere in the league. Jordan Kraus is the Freedom’s scheduled starting pitcher.
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.