The Florence Y’alls (8-7) may have lost two of three in the last of their nine-game road trip, but the Y’alls finished with a 5-4 record in their travels.
The win Saturday over the Windy City ThunderBolts (7-9) clinched the winning road trip. Florence is tied with the Lake Erie Crushers for the fourth spot in the Frontier League West Division. The Gateway Grizzlies (11-4) and Evansville Otters (10-5) own the top two spots in the division leaving Florence three games out of the top spot.
“The game (Sunday) was on me. I mismanaged that last one,” said Chad Rhoades, Florence Manager. “Our guys did great – battled when we needed to battle. Guys put together some really good (at bats). Windy City’s park is a hard field to get a lot of hits at. They did a good job trying to force us to hit the ball in the air and limited us on the bases.”
Windy City ended Florence’s four-game winning streak with a 2-1 win Friday. The Y’alls outhit the ThunderBolts, 5-4 and neither team committed any errors. The ThunderBolts put together a three-hit inning in the bottom of the sixth to go ahead and keep the lead. Right fielder/first baseman Ray Zuberer singled home third baseman Brian Fuentes to put Florence up 1-0 in the top of the inning. Fuentes led Florence going 2-for-4 with a double.
Bobby Brabrand (0-2) pitched into the sixth inning for Florence, striking out seven and walking two. Michael Kirian finished the game striking out four and walking none.
Florence came back to win 6-1 on Saturday. The Y’alls built a 4-0 lead scoring three times in the top of the fifth and added two more in the top of the eighth. Florence scored two unearned runs off two Windy City errors.
The Y’alls outhit the ThunderBolts, 9-5. Left fielder Marcos Castillo went 3-for-5 to lead Florence scoring once. Fuentes had another good game going 2-for-4 with a solo home run and scored twice. First baseman Brennan Price belted a two-run home run in the top of the eighth.
Nathan Florence (2-0) put together another quality start for the Y’alls, going six innings striking out eight and walking four. Kent Klyman pitched the next two innings, striking out three and walking one with Carter Poiry closing it out in the top of the ninth.
Windy City won the final game, 5-3 on Sunday, outhitting the Y’alls, 7-5. Price went 2-for-4 with a two-run single in the top of the ninth to make the final score. Catcher Jackson Pritchard went 2-for-4 scoring once and Zuberer stole two bases.
“We had runners in scoring position all game. We just couldn’t get that big hit with runners on,” Price said. “Unfortunately, it happened in the ninth. We ran out of time. But 5-4 on the road, I’ll take that. It’s good momentum going into the home set.”
Edgar Martinez (1-1) pitched seven innings for Florence, striking out nine and walking two. Joe Dougherty then pitched part of the eighth before Sean Hughes finished it. Dougherty struck out one. Florence made two errors behind them leading to one Windy City unearned run.
Florence takes on the Washington Wild Things (7-8) in a three-game series starting Tuesday at 6:32 p.m. Eastern Standard Time at Thomas More Stadium.