The Florence Y’alls (20-19 overall) had been taking care of business at Thomas More Stadium for the most part this season.
But the Evansville Otters (23-16) came to town and took two-of-three over the weekend to end Florence’s streak of five straight series wins. Florence had not lost a home series since losing two-of-three to Gateway to open the season. Florence remains in fourth place in the Frontier League West Division standings.
Evansville knocked off Florence 9-3 on Friday to open the series going up 5-0 after three innings. The Y’alls did not dent the scoreboard until the fifth inning.
The Otters outhit the Y’alls 14-7 and scored one unearned run off the lone error in the game. Third baseman Brian Fuentes led Florence going 2 for 4 with a double, triple and scored one run.
“I thought over the course of the week, we (grinded out at-bats) consistently,” said Chad Rhoades, Florence manager. “Obviously, the results aren’t there. When we got down, I thought the offense did a good job of not making those at-bats selfish. I’m excited where we’re at.”
Bobby Brabrand (2-4) pitched six innings taking the loss striking out seven and walking four. Michael Kirian pitched the last three innings striking out three and walking one.
“We’re second in the league in walks. Obviously, something needs to be changed there,” Rhoades said. “There is a different philosophical approach. We’ve been kind of working on that.”
The Y’alls bounced back to blitz Evansville, 15-8 on Saturday moving their record to 5-2 in Saturday games. Florence doubled up Evansville, 14-7 in hits and scored one unearned run off two Otter errors.
The Y’alls saw four players record multi-hit games. Fuentes went 3 for 4 with two runs scored. Designated hitter Craig Massey belted a grand slam and scored twice. Massey said it was good to do that in front of his wife, two kids and other family members that came up from Tennessee to watch.
“That was absolutely an all-time moment for me in my career,” Massey said. “As much as I’ve been playing, it just doesn’t get better than that. People ask me why I still play. Days like that for sure.”
Right fielder Ray Zuberer went 2 for 4 with a double and scored four runs. Massey and DiNicolas both went 2 for 5. DiNicola batted in two and scored twice. Catcher Zade Richardson and first baseman Brennan Price also homered and drove in three each.
Jestin Jones (1-0) earned the win striking out seven and walking four. Carter Poiry, Kent Klyman and Brian McKenna also pitched in relief for the Y’alls.
“We’re just trying to stay together now. We have some injuries going on,” Jones said. “We’re just trying to figure it out now. It’s so much easier to pitch ahead in the count. It opens up everything. You can go in, up, down just anywhere you want pretty much. When you get behind, you have to hit those spots. When you get behind 2-0, you can’t leave one over the middle.”
The Y’alls hoped to earn another series win Sunday with ace Nate Florence slated to pitch. But an injury forced a late scratch and newly-signed Donovan Armas (0-1) started pitching three innings. The Otters racked up 15 hits against the four Y’alls pitchers scoring in six of the nine innings on their way to a 14-4 win dropping the Y’alls to 1-6 in Sunday games. Armas had not pitched in six years.
“Have fun. I understand where you’re at. I’m not trying to put any pressure on you,” Rhoades said when asked of the advice he gave Armas. “He was coming up later in the week in general to throw to see if he fit. That doesn’t mean he hasn’t been working on it. I got some good reports on him that he’s been working. He left at 5 a.m. (Sunday) and had to take two flights. He wanted it. That showed me a lot about his character. That’s the type of guys that I want. I was realistic with him. Show me your stuff. I just need to see where you’re at. But I liked his stuff and the way he competed. I got him out at his bullet count. He did what we needed him to do.”
Florence had nine hits. Price cranked a two-run home run in the bottom of the third on his way to three RBI on the day. Massey and shortstop Jeremiah Burks recorded two hits and one double each with Zuberer adding a double.
Florence completes the homestand with a three-game series against the Trois-Riveres Aigles (13-25) on Tuesday at 6:32 p.m.