As the second half of the Frontier League season gets rolling, the Florence Freedom got rolling with it, capturing five straight victories.
But that win streak was snapped on Saturday night in Traverse City, Michigan where the Beach Bums held off Florence, 4-1.
Florence fell behind early as Yazy Arbelo smashed a solo home run off Chuck Weaver (3-2) in the second inning.
Weaver was outstanding after that but Florence’s offense couldn’t get anything going against Traverse City starter Luis DeJesus, who went seven innings, allowing only one run on three hits, walking one and striking out eight.
Florence’s lone run came in the seventh as Collins Cuthrell went deep for his team-leading seventh homer of the year to tie the game at one.
But it all came undone in the eighth for the Freedom. With one out and nobody on, Jeff DeBlieux worked an 11-pitch walk.
It was the only walk of the game allowed by Weaver but it was a big one. DeBlieux promptly stole second and Alex Tomasovich singled him home to put Traverse City up 2-1. Jose Vargas followed with a single of his own to put runners at the corners with one out.
That was it for Weaver as Seth Harvey came in for Florence. Harvey struck out Brandon Jacobs but allowed back-to-back RBI singles to Reggie Lawson and Arbelo to put Traverse City up 4-1. All three runs in the inning were charged to Weaver as he ended up with a line of seven and a third innings, eight hits, four runs, all of them earned, one walk and six strike outs. Weaver’s only two losses this year have come against the Beach Bums.
With the loss, Florence drops to three games under .500 with a record of 25-28. Traverse City improved to 32-19 on the year.
The Freedom will look to win their fifth straight road series Sunday night as they send Jeremy Gooding (3-2, 2.61 ERA) to the hill. First pitch is set for 5:05 p.m. eastern time.
-Staff report
Photo: Wuerfel Park in Traverse City (via Wikipedia)
