Freedom drop finale to Rascals, return home for weekend series that could be division clincher – User-generated content (press release) (registration)

Despite racing out to an early lead, the Florence Freedom, presented by Titan Mechanical Solutions, dropped the finale and the series to the River City Rascals with an 11-5 loss on Thursday at UC Health Stadium.

Back-to-back singles by Collins Cuthrell and Jordan Brower started the second inning for the Freedom (55-33), asOzzy Braff bunted both runners into scoring position before Austin Wobrock plated the games first run with a run-scoring grounder to short. Garrett Vail followed with a base hit to left center that allowed Brower to cross as Florence jumped in front, 2-0.

River City (47-41) cut the deficit in half in the third, however, as a hit-by-pitch of Brandon Thomas set up a stolen base and an errant throw from Vail, allowing Thomas to reach third. Johnny Morales came through with an RBI-groundout next, pulling the Rascals to within one run. A four-run top of the fourth however, gave River City a lead they would not relinquish. The rally started when Josh Silver was hit by a pitch, and Paul Kronenfeld and Braxton Martinez followed with singles, the latter of which tied the score at 2-2 and chased starter Jordan Kraus (9-5) from the game. Enrique Zamora entered in relief and surrendered a first-pitch, go-ahead three-run homer to Clint Freeman.

Two more Rascals insurance runs would score in the top of the fifth. Mike Jurgella singled to start the frame and Jason Merjano reached on an error by Daniel Fraga. Cuthrell fielded the ball in right field and came up firing to third, but his throw bounced into the stands, allowing Jurgella to score and Merjano to reach third. Kronenfeld then took advantage of the errors, lacing an RBI-single to right to extend the Rascals lead to 7-2.

After four consecutive scoreless innings on offense, Florence would scratch a run across in the seventh. After Braff flew out to left to start the inning, Wobrock singled and Vail laced a double to the left-center gap, scoring Wobrock from first on Vails second hit and second RBI of the game.

Dan Ludwig (6-3) went seven-plus innings as River Citys starter, striking out five and allowing five runs, the final two of which came against reliever Nick Kennedy, who had inherited the runners when entering the game in the eighth.

The Rascals pushed three more runs across in the top of the eighth, and in the bottom half, Florence responded with two. Andrew Godbold led off with a single before Andre Mercurio lined a double down the right field line. Kronenfeld could not field the ball cleanly in the corner, allowing Godbold to score and Mercurio to dive in safely at third. Cuthrell then cut the deficit in half by plating Mercurio with a groundout to second.

A Freeman RBI-single off Pete Perez in the ninth inning gave River City its final run and Freemans fourth RBI of the game, and the Freedom failed to score in the bottom half, dropping the series finale to hand the Rascals the series win.

The Freedoms magic number to clinch a postseason berth still stands at one, with the magic number to clinch the West Division at two, with Thursdays Evansville loss to Normal.

The Freedom next host the Gateway Grizzlies for a three-game weekend series, with first pitch of Fridays series opener scheduled for 7:05 p.m. at UC Health Stadium. Gateway will send Dalton Shalberg (0-1) to the mound opposite Steve Hagen (3-1) on Fireworks Friday in Florence.

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 drop finale to Rascals, return home for weekend series that could be division clincher - User-generated content (press release) (registration)