July 16, 2012 - Frontier League (FL) Florence Freedom TRAVERSE CITY,MI-The Florence Freedom returned to action Monday night after having the day off on Sunday. They began a pivotal three game series with the first place Traverse City Beach Bums who led the Freedom by 6 games when the night began. By the time the game ended, the Beach Bums(35-17) extended their lead to 7, with a 5-4 opening series win at Wuerfel Park over the Freedom(28-24).

Peter Fatse led the Freedom going 2-5 with 2 RBI's as it was his single in the 1st inning that scored John Malloy to give the Freedom a 1-0 lead. Alec Lewis, made his return to the rotation after being sidelined for 14 days with a foot injury. He recorded a 1-2-3 1st inning, however he couldn't build off that momentum. He surrendered one of his three homeruns in the 2nd inning as Chase Burch hammered one over the left field wall to tie the game at 1-1. The Beach Bums took the lead later in the inning after Lewis was called for a balk scoring Jeff Flagg from third base.

In the 4th inning, Drew Rundle led of the frame with his 6th homerun of the season to tie the game at 2-2. Then in the 5th, the Freedom recaptured the lead. With two outs and Junior Arrojo at second base after a single and a steal, Eddie Rodriguez lined a double to the outfield scoring Arrojo giving the Freedom their last lead of the night at 3-2. The Beach Bums responded with a three run inning of their own. They got back to back homers from Sean Gusrang and Travis Higgs to open the inning, and then Brian Heere singled home a run to put the Beach Bums ahead 5-3. Lewis(2-6) took the loss, after going 4 innings, giving up 9 hits, and 5 earned runs while striking out two. The big problem in his return was allowing three homeruns.

The Freedom scored their last run in the 7th as Fatse lined a double scoring Malloy all the way from first base. It was Fatse's second straight multiple RBI game. The Freedom had a chance at tying the game, with runners on the corers with two outs, but Rundle grounded into an inning ending fielder's choice. The Freedom left 10 men on base, as they dropped their 2nd in a row and 5th in the last 6 games.

The Freedom will attempt to even up the 3 game series at a game apiece on Tuesday night. Righty Sean Gregory(4-3, 3.65) will start for the Freedom, as lefty Bennett Whitmore(3-2 4.15) goes for Traverse City. Tuesday's game can be heard with Steve Jarnicki starting at 6:50 pm on Real Talk 1160 and realtalk1160.com.

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Freedom Drop Opener to First Place Traverse City