The Florence Freedom, presented by Titan Mechanical Solutions, were not deterred by two delays early in Wednesday night’s game, building an early lead for the second straight night and staving off late threats in a 9-5 win over the Windy City ThunderBolts at Standard Bank Stadium.
Jordan Brower homered off Robert Troiano (0-1) in the second inning to open the scoring, and newcomer Nate Ferrell added a RBI-single in the third. But shortly after the Freedom (20-9) extended their lead to two runs, a power outage occurred at the stadium, suspending the game for over twenty minutes. Jose Brizuela then flew out to left field once play resumed, but a downpour of rain instantly led to another delay.
The ThunderBolts (17-13) answered with a run in the bottom of the third, but Austin Wobrock lined a two-run double to left-center in the following half inning for a 4-1 Florence advantage. Later, in the bottom of the fifth, the Freedom held a 5-1 lead with starter Marty Anderson (3-1) on the mound. The left-hander would give up a solo home run to Andrew Dundon and a two-run homer to Larry Balkwill, his first two home runs allowed on the season, bringing Windy City within one run.
Florence tallied a run in the top of the eighth inning, but got into a two-on, one-out jam in the bottom half. With the go-ahead run at the plate for the ThunderBolts, reliever Enrique Zamora recovered to record a flyout before handing the reigns to Matt Pobereyko, who struck out Ransom LaLonde to end the threat and keep the score at 6-4.
Pobereyko would benefit from three insurance runs in the top of the ninth before allowing an unearned run in the bottom half. The right-hander recorded his eighth save of the season, as the Freedom clinched the series victory.
Collins Cuthrell led Florence by going 3-for-5 with two RBI and finished a home run short of the cycle, while four other players collected two hits each in the offensive spree. Andre Mercurio went 1-for-4 with a run scored and one RBI, tying his personal best by extending his hitting streak to eight games.
The Freedom will play for the series sweep Thursday with first pitch scheduled for 7:05 p.m. at Standard Bank Stadium. Cody Gray (4-1) will start for Florence against Windy City’s Clay Chapman (0-3).
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.