Despite falling behind early in both games, the Florence Freedom, presented by Titan Mechanical Solutions, came back to sweep the Normal CornBelters in a doubleheader by final scores of 4-3 and 3-2, eliminating Normal from post-season contention on Saturday at UC Health Stadium.
The CornBelters (48-47) took an early lead in game one when Brian Hakes lined a double to right center off Freedom (60-35) starter Braulio Torres-Perez before scoring on a pair of productive outs that included a Miguel Torres sacrifice fly in the top of the second.
With Normal starter Scott Sebald (9-2) perfect through two and two-thirds innings, Ozzy Braff blasted a solo shot to left-center as the Freedom tied the game at 1-1 in the home half of the third.
Normal would take another lead in the fourth, however. Following a pair of Torres-Perez walks to Craig Lepre and Diego Cedeno, Ty Morris pushed the CornBelters in front, 2-1, with a run-scoring single.
But in the home half, Andre Mercurio was hit by a pitch, Andrew Godbold doubled to set up a second-and-third situation. Jordan Brower then supplied an RBI-single to plate Mercurio as the Freedom knotted the score at 2-2.
Sam Brunner entered in relief for the fifth inning for the Freedom and issued a leadoff walk to Santiago Chirino, who would come in to score on a Torres single later in the inning with Jack Fowler on the mound. Florence retook the lead permanently in the bottom of the sixth, however, as two singles and a walk loaded the bases for Garrett Vail, who delivered a go-ahead two-run single.
Pete Perez entered to pitch the top of the seventh and allowed a leadoff double to Santiago Chirino, who was thrown out at third base attempting to stretch his hit into a double. Perez retired the next two batters to seal the win. Mike Anthony (1-2) received the win in relief by pitching a flawless sixth inning.
Normal jumped in front of Florence in game two as well, using a Nolan Meadows line-drive homer off starter Steve Hagen (8-5) to take a 1-0 lead. But a Mercurio three-run homer off Edgar de la Rosa (3-6) in third gave the Freedom a lead that would last.
Hagen would pitch six innings, allowing just one more run to the CornBelters in the sixth on a sacrifice fly by Lepre that scored Justin Fletcher, who had reached on an error. Jamal Wilson recorded his first save with a clean seventh inning.
The regular season concludes on Sunday with first pitch scheduled for 2:35 p.m. at UC Health Stadium. Cody Gray (9-4) will start for the Freedom against right-hander Charlie Gillies (7-9) for Normal.
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