Good pitching and timely hitting power Freedom to first win of the season
Freedom rebound to tie the series at 1-1
The Florence Freedom won their first of the season, defeating the Kalamazoo Kings six to three. Led by a quality start from Liam Shanahan and a scoreless two innings from the bullpen, the Florence Freedom tied the series with the Kalamazoo Kings. Things started well for the Freedom, as Shanahan had a one-two-three inning on only eleven pitches to start the game. Kalamazoo starting pitcher Trent Lare followed suit with a one-two-three inning in the bottom of the first. It was in the second inning when Florence struck first with a three run inning, behind back to back home runs from Nick Salotti and John Welch. Salotti and Welch have both been off to a hot start hitting two home runs each in as many games. In the bottom of the fourth Mckinney singled to right field and the hot hitting Salotti doubled to right field to move him to third. With one out and a runner on third Welch flied to shallow right field. Despite the shallow fly ball, the speedy Mckinney scored as he tagged up from third base giving the Florence Freedom a four to nil lead. Four runs would be all the support that Shanahan would need. On a night when Florence needed a deep start from their starting pitcher, Liam Shanahan delivered. Shanahan went seven strong innings, giving up three runs on five hits. Shanahan gave up two runs in the top of the fifth inning after giving up a leadoff triple to the red hot Williams. Hudgins singled him home and eventually scored on a ground out by Grose. Florence got both of those runs back in the home half of the inning from a broken bat single from Ryan Basham to extend the lead to six to two. Kalamazoo would add one more run on a solo home run by Rothford to cut the freedom lead to 6-3. Alain Quijano pitched a scoreless eighth inning and gave way to Florence closer Cody Castle. Castle set the franchise record in appearances by a Freedom pitcher with his 65th appearance. His record setting performance was a good one. Castle recorded a one-two-three inning for his first save of the season. Florence got two scoreless innings from a bullpen that struggled the day before to record their first victory of this young 2008 season!
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