The Florence Y’alls are now 21-33 on the season after splitting a double-header on Wednesday at Windy City.
“Obviously, one-run games have been the story of our season,” said Brian White, Florence manager. “Finding a way to win one after we lost one was huge for our confidence going into the next series.”
Florence started the day losing game one 5-4 in the bottom of the ninth. Windy City second baseman Jairus Richards hit a home run to right field off Florence closer Joe Dougherty (0-4) with one out to lift the ThunderBolts to the win.
Florence first baseman Brennan Price went 2 for 4 with a triple, scoring once and driving in two. He singled in the top of the third to score shortstop Alberti Chavez to give Florence a 3-0 lead. Right fielder Rodney Tennie added a double.
Florence fell behind 4-3 in the bottom of the sixth. But second baseman Ethan Stern singled to right in the top of the eighth scoring Chavez to tie the game.
Jonaiker Villalobos started for Florence pitching five innings. He struck out seven and walked three. Bobby Brabrand and Sean Hughes pitched the sixth and seventh respectively before Dougherty took over.
Layne Schnitz-Paxton (1-0) pitched the ninth inning to earn the win. He did allow a double to Tennie with two out. But he got Zuberer to ground out to second to end the threat.
The Y’alls came back to win the nightcap, 2-1 scoring twice in the top of the ninth to win it. With one out in the that inning, third baseman Bryant Flete doubled to center and pinch hitter Anthony Brocato singled him to third.
Flete then scored when Tennie reached on a fielder’s choice to tie the game 1-1 and Brocato moved to second as Windy City recorded no outs on the play. After center fielder Ray Zuberer reached on a hit by pitch to load the bases, Chavez reached on a fielder’s choice scoring Brocato.
“As a team, we like to scratch and claw all the way to the end,” Tennie said. “It doesn’t matter how we score runs. We just want to get runs across. We live and we learn.”
Alex Wagner started the game for Florence pitching into the fifth inning striking out six, walking one and allowing five hits. Kent Kylman took over and pitched through the seventh before Evy Ruibal (1-0) pitched the last two innings earning the win. Ruibal struck out three and allowed just one hit.
Tyler Thornton started and pitched seven strong innings for Windy City striking out eight and walking four. He worked out of bases loaded jam with two out in the top of the seventh getting Chavez to ground out to third.
“Thornton did a good job keeping us off-balance for seven innings,” White said. “We had runners in scoring position, just didn’t bring them in early in the game. We were a couple of hits away from busting it open, just didn’t get them. Bryant Flete had a nice double in the ninth. We kept the momentum going and took the lead.”
Brett Smith then took over and pitched into the ninth before Daniel Kight (3-2) took over and took the loss. Smith struck out two.
Florence continues the season with three games against the Joliet (Illinois) Slammers (26-29). Game time is 7:03 p.m. Friday at Thomas More Stadium.