Explosive offense leads Freedom to first place – Cincinnati.com

Florence Freedom players sign autographs for kids after their home game on June 18.(Photo: The Enquirer/ James Weber)Buy Photo

FLORENCE - Normally, when a baseball team is about to embark on a grueling stretch of 15 road games out of 18, you wouldnt blame those players for being anxious.

Anxiety is minimal with the Florence Freedom this year. The professional baseball team has been road warriors so far in the 2017 season, which makes manager Dennis Pelfrey optimistic as the team nears a tough stretch of travel.

We prepare pretty well, Pelfrey said. At home, were more lax. On the road, our guys are very diligent about what were doing. They focus on baseball.

The Freedom are 22-11 after June 18, and 13-2 on the road, as they entered the stretch of travel, which began June 20 in Normal. Florence plays River City at home June 27-29, its only three home games from now until July 14, their first game after the Frontier League All-Star break.

They beat Joliet 6-3 at home June 18, a game which was slightly against the norm of its results this year. The Freedom improved to 9-9 at home, UC Health Stadium.

Florence has a five-game lead on two teams in its West Division, who are 17-16. Florence is 16-2 against West Division foes this season. The win over Joliet was only its sixth in 15 games against the East Division. The league has 12 teams.

The current record is majorly atypical of Pelfreys tenure in Florence so far, in his third season. His first two years, the team was well under .500 in the first half of the season before becoming one of the best teams in the league the second half. In 2015, Florence rallied to make the playoffs.

Pelfrey attributes the success to a strong core of returning players, and hisstaff, led by hitting coach Zac Mitchell and pitching coach Bryan White.

Last year we didnt really know what was going on, Pelfrey said. We thought we had a good team; we just werent playing to our potential. Defense and pitching killed us early, then we put it together and made a nice run at the end. With (Mitchell and White), our main focus was getting off to a good start, which we did.

Entering play June 18, the Freedom were within a few runs of the Frontier League leaders in total runs scored and allowed.

The Freedom have arguably the best offense in the league, hitting .300 as a team and averaging six runs per game. Five regulars are hitting over .300, including Andre Mercurio at .380 and Daniel Fraga at .355.

Mercurio was third in the league in hitting on June 18. Jose Brizuela leads the team with six home runs and 30 RBI, which is tied for second in the league.

Taylor Oldham, who returned to the Freedom last week after being a Frontier League All-Star with the Freedom in 2016, stepped into the No. 2 slot in the order. He hit .324 last year with 14 homers and 65 RBI for the Freedom.

Mike Morris, a Sycamore graduate, is an outfielder and the only local product currently on the roster.

The team is built to be explosive offensively, Pelfrey said. We should be a little better defensively than we are. Were right in the middle of the pack. Weve made a few miscues that typically our guys wont make. Every night, we have the ability to put up 10 or 15 runs because we get so many baserunners. I think we lead the league in walks. We do a lot of things on the bases. We were a hit or two away from breaking this game open (June 18). We have the ability to do that every night, which is awesome to watch.

On the mound, the team has an ERA of 3.53. Jordan Kraus (5-2, 2.64) and Tony Vocca (4-2, 2.54) have been outstanding, as has been Cody Gray (5-1, 3.56). Logan Longwirth had a 3-0 record in as many starts and 2.45 ERA before being signed with the Colorado Rockies organization. Pete Levitt was a standout reliever but was released to make room for Oldham.

Were going to find some of these college arms that didnt get drafted that can help us continue winning, and hopefully well be in the postseason at the end, Pelfrey said.

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Explosive offense leads Freedom to first place - Cincinnati.com