After dropping their first two contests of the season, the Florence Y’alls picked up their first win of the year on Saturday night.
The Y’alls bested the Gateway Grizzlies, 8-3. More promising was a better performance on the mound after allowing 24 runs in the first two games.
Florence trailed 2-0 early, then 3-2 in the bottom of the sixth before exploding for four runs to go up 6-3 when first baseman Logan Mathieu hit a grand slam. The Y’alls added two more runs in the bottom of the seventh.
Florence batted .250 (7-for-28) overall in the game compared to .229 (8-for-35) for Gateway. The two home runs made the difference in this one. Third baseman Brian Fuentes tied the game in the bottom of the fifth with a two-run shot.
Left fielder Marcos Castillo led Florence going 2-for-3. Second baseman Andres Rios scored twice and walked twice.
Jake McMahill started for the Y’alls pitching four innings, striking out three and walking one. Carter Poiry (1-0) took over and pitched into the seventh inning, striking out one and walking two with Cameron Pferrer and Kent Klyman finishing the game, combining to strike out three and walk one.
Gateway exploded late to beat Florence, 11-2 on Friday. The teams scored twice in the first inning. But the Gateway tandem of starting pitcher Josh Lucas (1-0) then relievers Collin Sullivan and Trevor Tietz kept the Y’alls off the scoreboard the rest of the way holding the Y’alls to a .194 (6-for-31) overall batting clip.
On the other side, Gateway hit an astounding .500 (21-for-42) overall, pounding out four home runs and five doubles. Third baseman D.J. Stewart led the way going 3-for-5 with two home runs, one double, four RBI and scored twice.
Florence had three extra-base hits. Center fielder Cole Brannen tripled with catcher Jackson Pritchard and shortstop Jeremiah Burks recording doubles.
Mike Kickham started the game for Florence pitching two innings striking out two and walking none. Rodney Hutchinson, Jr. then pitched the next four innings striking out two and walking one. Sean Hughes pitched the seventh striking out one and Brandon Mason pitched the last two innings striking out two and walking one.
There were no sweeps in the first series of the season so Florence is just one game back of first place in the Frontier League West Division of four other teams.
Florence travels to Georgia to take on the Savannah Bananas in an exhibition game on Monday at 7 p.m., before returning home Tuesday for a three-game series against the Joliet Slammers (1-2).
Game time is 6:32 p.m.
