Hoping to secure a home series victory against the Evansville Otters, the Florence Freedom, presented by Titan Mechanical Solutions, could not produce enough runs offensively.
The Freedom dropped the rubber match, 4-2, on Sunday evening at UC Health Stadium.
Carlos Castro led the Otters (12-9) offensively tallying three hits and scoring two runs. Castro led off the top of the second inning with a double off Mike Castellani (2-1) and advanced to third on a Hunter Cullen ground-out to first.
Rob Calabrese followed immediately with an RBI-single to put the Otters ahead, 1-0. Later in the frame, J.J. Gould ripped an RBI-single that moved the Otters ahead by two.
The Freedom (12-8) cut the lead to one courtesy a Taylor Bryant sac-fly off Patrick McGuff (4-0) that drove in Caleb Lopes who doubled to lead off the bottom of the third inning.
The Otters wasted no time to answer, plating two more runs in their next at-bat thanks to RBI-knocks from Calabrese and David Cronin as the visitors moved in front, 4-1.
Austin Wobrock extended his hitting streak to 11 games, smashing a double down the left field line that scored Ricky Ramirez Jr. from first in the bottom of the fifth, cutting the lead in half, 4-2.
Neither team would score again as McGuff took the win tossing six innings scattering seven hits that led to two runs with three walks and nine strikeouts.
For Florence, Castellani took the loss, allowing four runs over six innings of work, giving up nine hits with no walks and three strikeouts. Sean Watkins and Alex McCune would go on to span three shutout innings of relief adding three strikeouts in the two-run defeat.
The Freedom gear up to face the Windy City Thunderbolts (10-11) beginning with a doubleheader on Wednesday. Florence will trot-out righty Tyler Gibson (2-1) opposite right-hander Tyler Thornton (2-0) of the ‘Bolts with first pitch of game one slated for 5:35 p.m. at UC Health Stadium.
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.