The Florence Freedom sent 13 batters to the plate and scored nine runs in the second inning on the way to an 11-4 victory over the visiting Washington Wild Things Wednesday night at Champion Window Field.

Rookie shorstop Tyler Evans tripled with the bases loaded and first baseman Beau Blacken blasted the first grand slam of his pro career to provide all the offense Florence would need to complete a two-game sweep of division-leading Washington.

Rookie left-hander Josh Bruns was the beneficiary of the early run support. The former Northern Kentucky University star went seven innings to earn his first career win. Bruns allowed just two runs on five hits and struck out a career-high six batters. Left-hander Jon Troop worked the eighth and allowed one run on a hit and two walks. Right-hander Cody Castle gave up three hits and a run in the ninth to nail it down.

A first-inning solo homer by Washington left fielder Matt Sutton staked the Wild Things to an early 1-0 advantage. The Freedom offense went down in order in the bottom of the first against Wild Things rookie right-hander Kevin Foeman, who was making just the second start of his career. That gave little indication of what was about to happen in the bottom of the second.

Blacken led off the decisive inning with an opposite-field double to right to become the first Freedom hitter to reach base against Foeman. After a Josh Lex ground ball to second moved Blacken to third, the Freedom cleanup batter would score on Tim Grogan's basehit to tie the game at 1-1. A walk to Joe Holland and an infield basehit by Truman Marek loaded the bases with only one out for Evans. The Bloomfield, Ind., native proceeded to stroke his first career triple, a shot to the gap in right-center field to empty the bases and start the avalanche that fell on Foeman and the Wild Things. Already ahead 4-1, the Freedom went right to work adding more runs to the lead. Center fielder Reggie Watson, who hit in the leadoff spot for the first time since May 29, hit a bouncer to third that Washington third baseman Robbie Knapp juggled for an error. That allowed Watson to reach first while Evans crossed the plate with the fifth run of the frame. Greg Stone and Ryan Basham then drew back-to-back walks to load the bases again and set the stage for Blacken's second at-bat of the inning. The four-year Frontier League veteran pulled a deep shot down the line in left that cleared the Champion Window Field wall by plenty and gave Blacken his first career grand slam. The four RBIs matched Blacken's career-best for a single game, set June 30, 2005 against the now-defunct Ohio Valley Redcoats when the right-handed slugger was in his second season as a Chillicothe Paint. That night Blacken homered twice in the same game for the only time in his career.

Blacken's grand slam spelled the end of a short but painful night for Foeman, whose pitching line read: 1 1/3 innings pitched, nine runs (eight earned), five hits and three walks.

The Washington bullpen managed to keep things respectful by limiting the Florence offense to only two more runs on five more hits over the final 6 2/3 innings. The Freedom picked up a pair of insurance runs in the eighth inning off Wild Things second baseman turned knuckleball-throwing relief pitcher Kyle Werman. In his third appearance in a relief role this season, Werman walked Evans and Watson to begin the inning. Stone followed with an RBI double to the wall in right which brought Evans in from second and Basham's sacrifice fly scored Watson with the final Freedom tally.

The nine-run inning marked the second time in the past nine days Florence had reached that figure. The Freedom posted nine runs in the fifth inning June 18 on the way to an 11-7 victory over the visiting Rockford Riverhawks.
The Florence club record for most runs in an inning is ten.

The sweep pulled the Freedom to within 4 1/2 games of the front-running Wild Things in the Frontier League's East Division. Florence is now just a game behind second-place Chillicothe, which defeated Slippery Rock Wednesday night to move within 3 1/2 games of the top spot. Florence has a chance to overtake Chillicothe in the standings when the two teams open a two-game series at Champion Window Field at 7:05 p.m. EDT Thursday. After the two games in Florence, the venue changes but the combatants remain the same when the Freedom and Paints square off Saturday and Sunday at Chillicothe's VA Memorial Stadium.