The first off three day games in a four-game set, did not go as planned for the Florence Freedom, presented by Titan Mechanical Solutions, as they fell, 1-0, to the Windy City Thunderbolts on Tuesday afternoon.
Hayden Wheeler (1-1) was making his debut start on the bump for Florence (38-24), and suffered the loss despite looking electric over four innings of work. Taisei Fukuhara touched the lefty for a solo-blast in the bottom of the second, thrusting the Bolts (27-33) in front, 1-0, the eventual final.
Chris Washington (2-6) offered his best outing of the year for Windy City, the southpaw went the distance while shutting out the Freedom on just three hits.
Caleb Lopes would corral a multi-hit game, doubling and singling in his two at-bats in the first and fourth, respectively. After the Lopes knock in the fourth, Florence would not have another base-runner until Brandon Pugh singled in the ninth.
Washington took the win on the strength of nine shutout innings that featured three hits, no walks and seven whiffs.
Wheeler would span four innings allowing three hits and one earned run before Johnathon Tripp took the ball in the fifth. Tripp went three frames in relief, before lefty Chris Erwin took over on the way to tallying a scoreless eighth.
The teams will meet for game two of their four game tilt this week in Crestwood, Illinois, on Wednesday. Florence will trot out right-hander, Daniel Williams (3-2, 5.04), opposite righty, Sean LeLand (0-1, 5.52) of Windy City with first pitch slated for 10:35 a.m.
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