After letting two separate leads slip away, the Florence Freedom, presented by Titan Mechanical Solutions, defeated the Washington Wild Things in walk-off fashion by a final score of 6-5 on Friday night at UC Health Stadium.

With the score tied and runners on first and second with two out in the bottom of the ninth, Garrett Vail hit a ground ball into center field off Zach Strecker (4-1), scoring Jordan Brower from second base and snapping a Freedom (17-8) three-game losing streak with the teams first walk-off victory of the season.

Vail emerged as the offensive hero for Florence, going 4-for-5 with two RBI in the game. Matt Pobereyko (1-1) earned the win after entering with one out in the ninth and pitching a season-high inning and two-thirds of scoreless relief.

Mike Hill homered twice for the Wild Things (13-11)a solo home run in the second inning for the games first run, and a game-tying two-run shot in the top of the eighth off Kyle Doerr to make the score 5-5.

The Freedom overcame the early 1-0 deficit in the bottom of the third on a two-run homer to right field by Jose Brizuela, before a John Fidanza RBI-fielders choice grounder against rookie starter Enrique Zamora tied the game at 2-2. Florence would rally back with a three-run sixth inning, however, on a run-scoring base hit by Vail and a two-RBI single to right field by Daniel Fraga.

In his professional debut, Zamora struck out five batters and walked just one, limiting Washington to three hits over four and two-thirds innings.

Brower and Ozzy Braff also collected two hits each, as eight of the nine players in the starting lineup reached base safely at least once.

Washington starter Trevor Foss surrendered five runs on eight hits through five and two-thirds innings of work in his shortest outing of the season, getting no decision after leaving the game with the score tied in the bottom of the sixth.

The series continues Saturday with first pitch scheduled for 6:05 p.m. at UC Health Stadium. Right-hander Jordan Kraus (4-1) will pitch for the Freedom against Washington right-hander Aaron Burns (0-0).

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.

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Freedom halt losing skid with dramatic walk-off win against Wild Things at UC Health Stadium - User-generated content (press release) (registration)