With hopes of sweeping the day to claim a weekend series, the Florence Freedom, presented by Titan Mechanical Solutions, wound up splitting a Saturday doubleheader with the Southern Illinois Miners.
The Freedom won game one, 2-1, before suffering a, 3-2, defeat in the finale at Rent One Park.
The Miners (33-32) jumped on the scoreboard in their first at-bat of game one, Kyle Davis sailing his tenth homer of the season over the wall in straight away center to give the home team the early, 1-0, advantage.
Making his debut start in the contest, Johnathon Tripp, normally the closer would dominate over his final four frames, allowing five hits and one run over 5 complete innings, adding six whiffs on his way to a no-decision.
Florence (41-27) evened the score in the fourth, Jackson Pritchard following a double by Ricky Ramirez Jr. with a sharp RBI-single to right-center as the affair stalemated at one.
The score would remain tied heading in to extras, the Freedom escaped a jam in the bottom of the seventh to bring free baseball to Marion, Ill.
With Hunter Robichaux (1-0) on the mound, the Miners proceeded to load the bases with one out, courtesy a trio of free passes from the Freedom hurler. Robichaux would escape, however, getting a strikeout looking before Ramirez Jr. sprawled out in right, making a diving catch on a dying quail off the bat of Gianfranco Wawoe as the game moved to the eighth at, 1-1.
Southern Illinois closer, Jordan Brink (1-3) came back out to the mound for a second inning of relief, but surrendered a no-doubt homer to left off the bat of Caleb Lopes, as Florence moved ahead, 2-1. The round-tripper was the fifth of the year for the Freedom second baseman.
Freedom closer, Karl Craigie notched his fourth save in the bottom of the frame, facing the minimum en route to sealing the one-run victory.
Game two saw the Freedom score first, as Brandon Pugh plated a run after Ramirez Jr. and Taylor Bryant connected for singles earlier in the inning. It was an RBI-single for Pugh, Bryant getting hosed at the plate as Florence tried to make it a two-run knock.
Taking the ball for his fifth start of the season, right-hander, Zak Spivy was masterful over his first five innings, all shutout frames, before the Miners turned the game with a three-run sixth. Two of the runs would be charged to Spivy, only one earned, as Florence made a pair of errors in the inning.
Southern Illinois did total three hits, Jarrod Watkins starting the barrage with a single up the middle before shortstop, Austin Wobrock kicked a grounder off the bat of Wawoe to put runners at first and second.
After inducing Davis into a pop-out, Spivy was relieved by lefty Hayden Wheeler.
Wheeler was greeted by a Jamey Smart RBI-single and a run-scoring double from Arturo Nieto as the Miners took a, 2-1, edge. Southern Illinois added one more when Cletis Avery bounced into a fielder’s choice to first, Bryant firing home to get the out of Smart at the plate but Ryan Rinsky dropped the ball, making it a two-run game at, 3-1.
With newly acquired lefty, Nick Durazo (1-0) on the mound for the Miners in the top of the seventh, Luis Pintor blasted his fourth homer of the year, and second in four games to pull the visitors within one. Benjamin Dum would take over from there, retiring the next three men he faced to salt away the, 3-2, victory for Southern Illinois.
The Freedom will enjoy three days off before taking the field next on Wednesday at UC Health Stadium. Florence will host the Gateway Grizzlies for a quick-two game tilt in their home ballpark on Wednesday and Thursday night. Pitchers have yet to be determined on both sides.
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