A six-run first inning by the Lake Erie Crushers handed the Florence Freedom, presented by Titan Mechanical Solutions, a deficit that would only snowball into its largest of the year, as the Freedom yielded a season-high in runs in a 23-6 Saturday night at a rainy UC Health Stadium.
Tony Vocca (5-4) took the brunt of the damage through five innings of work for the Freedom (37-22), surrendering a total of 17 runs on 18 hits. The onslaught included four home runs, one of which was a Josh McAdams grand slam. Vocca managed to sandwich scoreless second and fourth innings around six-run blemishes in the first and third innings, but went on to surrender five tallies in his final inning.
Sam Brunner relived Vocca to begin the sixth, and went on to allow three runs over two innings of work before turning the ball over to Patrick McGrath, who turned in a scoreless eighth.
The Freedom plated their first runs in the bottom of the seventh off Crushers (25-33) starter Connor Reed (3-6). Jordan Brower led off with a single and scored on a Keivan Berges RBI-double, and after a walk to Garrett Vail, Ozzy Braff grounded a single to left field to plate Berges.
Berges and Braff ended up with three hits and one RBI each in the game, while Vail slugged a three-run homer off reliever Manny Arciniega in the eighth.
Sean Hurley hit a pair of two-run homers for Lake Erie, while Jordan Dean and L.J. Kalawaia also hit home runs in the game. Kalawaia went 6-for-7 and finished a triple shy of the cycle.
The loss represented the highest run and hit totals allowed by the Freedom all season, as Lake Erie tallied 27 hits on the evening.
The Freedom will play for the series victory Sunday, with first pitch scheduled for 6:05 p.m. at UC Health Stadium. Enrique Zamora (1-1) will start for Florence against Crushers right-hander Juan Caballero (3-2).
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.