Breaking out the brooms in the series finale, the Florence Freedom, presented by Titan Mechanical Solutions, took a, 6-3, victory over the Schaumburg Boomers on Sunday night at Boomers Stadium, improving to 6-0 against the top team in the East Division in 2019.
Plating two out of the gate, the Freedom (31-13) scored first in all three games with the Boomers (22-23) over the weekend and enjoyed a, 2-0 lead as the bottom of the first began.
Isaac Benard started the game with a two-bagger off Payton Lobdell (0-4) before taking third when Tyler Reichenborn reached on a Matt Rose error at third base.
Caleb Lopes counted the first Freedom run, bouncing a fielder’s choice to third that featured a second consecutive error from Rose, this time on the throw home as the score moved to, 1-0. Ricky Ramirez Jr. drove a sacrifice-fly to center that plated Lopes and pushed the Freedom in front, 2-0.
After Daniel Williams (3-0) faced the minimum in the bottom of the frame, the visitors extended their lead to, 3-0 in the top of the second, courtesy of a sacrifice-fly from Connor Crane, who now leads Florence with 29 RBI on the season.
Schaumburg got on the board twice in the third as Chase Dawson plated a run on a ground-out to second following a triple from Connor Oliver to begin the inning. Matt Rose then pulled the Boomers within one at, 3-2, driving his sixth homer of the year to the opposite field in right-center.
Florence jumped back ahead by three in the fifth, thanks to the fourth homer of the season from Benard, who drove in Crane with a missile over the wall in the right-center power alley, helping the Freedom take a, 5-2, advantage.
Lobdell finished his night after five innings of work. He surrendered 5 runs, four earned, on five hits, with one walk and a pair of whiffs on the way to his fourth loss of the year.
Williams got the first two outs in the bottom of the sixth for the Freedom, but got pulled in favor of Brian McKenna with one out to find and Dylan Jones at second after a double. McKenna struck out the first batter he faced, preserving the Williams line at 5.2 innings, eight scattered hits and two earned runs, with two walks and one strikeout. The right-hander earned the win, and was one out short of his third quality start in four outings.
The Boomers rallied to score a run off McKenna in the home side of the seventh, getting a Dawson single ahead of a Rose RBI-double that brought Schaumburg within two at, 5-3. McKenna finished strong, fanning two more batters to bring his bullpen-leading total to 29.
Southpaw Karl Craigie would toss the eighth, whiffing two while facing one over the minimum as Florence came back to the plate in the ninth still leading by a pair.
Pugh helped the Freedom add a run of insurance in the frame, singling off Schaumburg closer, Connor Eller before stealing second and third. Benard drove him in with a sacrifice-fly to center as the visitors took the, 6-3, edge.
Benard went 3-4 at the plate in the finale with 3 RBI, finishing the game a triple shy of the cycle.
Johnathon Tripp took the ball in the bottom of the ninth, in search of his Frontier Leading tenth save of the campaign. The righty delivered, facing the minimum and striking out one as the Freedom prevailed, 6-3 for their fourth straight win.
Tripp still has not allowed an earned run in 2019, and is nine-for-nine in converting save opportunities.
Both teams enjoy a Monday off-day before getting back to the grind on Tuesday.
Florence will play host to the Southern Illinois Miners in a double-header at UC Health Stadium, while Schaumburg continues a six-game homestand, welcoming the Windy City Thunderbolts to Boomers 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.
Florence Freedom