Florence Y’alls Manager Brian White said the Empire State Greys have snuck up on teams some this year despite their struggles.
The travel-only Greys (3-59) from the Frontier League East Division led briefly in the second of the three-game series with the Florence Y’alls (26-35) when second baseman Robbie Carling hit a solo home run in the top of the first inning. But Florence came back to score two in bottom of the inning and never relinquished the lead in a 9-2 victory.
The win is the fourth straight for Florence and matches a season-high for consecutive wins. The high-powered Y’alls offense has put up 54 runs and 66 hits during that streak.
The Y’alls are in seventh place in the West Division, in front of Windy City. The top three teams in each division make the playoffs in September.
Designated hitter Brennan Price hit a two-run homer to center field scoring left fielder Ray Zuberer in that first inning off Empire State starter Mizuki Akatsuka (1-1). Akatsuka threw with his left hand in the first inning but when Price came back around in the order in the bottom of the third, Akatsuka switched to his right. Price blasted another two-run home run to put Florence up 5-1 scoring shortstop Alberti Chavez in front of him.
“Early in the game, you have to tip your cap to their starting pitcher. He pitched us up and away trying to keep us off-balance,” White said. “We found a way to break it open late.”
Price finished his impressive day going 3 for 3 adding a double to go with four runs batted in. He scored four times and walked once.
“I tried to keep a simple approach. I wasn’t trying to do too much,” Price said. “I wasn’t up there trying to guess pitches. I went up there trying to keep my hands down trying to hit anything close and hit it hard. I wasn’t trying to do anything crazy up there. It worked out.”
Right fielder Anthony Brocato went 3 for 4 with one double and scored once.
Florence third baseman Craig Massey finished 2 for 4 with a double and three RBI. He doubled in Price in the bottom of the sixth and had a two-run single in the bottom of the seventh to help the Y’alls pull away.
Jonaiker Villalobos (5-5) picked up the win for Florence pitching six innings, striking out four, walking three and allowing four hits and two earned runs. Karl Craigie, Sean Hughes, and Cameron Pferrer came in and kept Empire State off the scoreboard in the final three innings combining to strike out five.
“Jonaiker set the tone early,” White said. “He had shutdown innings for us, which is something we’ve been struggling with all year. We got our guys back in the dugout and got the momentum going a bit. Karl Craigie came in and set the tone. It was his first day off the (disabled list). We were only planning on using him for one (inning). But we were put in a position where we had to use him for two and I think he did a great job handling that situation.”
Florence will be going for its first sweep of the season on Thursday. Game time is 6:34 p.m.
