The Florence Freedom continued their hot hitting to take the first game of the series against Eastern Division rival Traverse City. Garth McKinney led the Freedom attack with two doubles and a homer, his seventh of the season. McKinney had a perfect night as he also bunted for a single and finished just a triple shy of the cycle.

The Freedom struck first, scoring two runs in the bottom of the third inning. McKinney doubled in Jeff Landry and Ryan Basham singled in McKinney to give the Freedom a 2-0 lead. The Freedom did all their scoring with two outs in the inning, as McKinney and Basham provided timely hitting to give the Freedom an early lead.

Traverse City took the lead in the top of the 5th inning, scoring four runs off starter Chris Ingoglia. Ingoglia did not get a decision in the ballgame, and he pitched five and a third innings, giving up six runs (four earned) and five hits on 102 pitches.

The Freedom tied the game in the home half of the fifth inning. Garth McKinney hit a two out homer to tie the game at four. McKinney drove in Eddie Gonzalaz, who had walked to lead off the inning.

The Traverse City Beach Bums scored two runs in the top of the 6th to take a 6-4 lead. The Beach Bums would have scored more, but Tim Grogan turned an unassisted double play to end the inning. Jeff Brown hit a liner to third and Grogan snagged it out of the air then alertly stepped on third base to double off Brad Miller and end the Traverse City threat.

The game see-sawed back and forth and the Freedom took an 8-6 lead into the top of the ninth inning. Cody Castle, the Freedom’s closer, came in to retire the Beach Bums. He got some help from his defense, as second baseman Billy Mottram made a diving catch to record the second out of the inning and save a run from scoring. With the tying run on second base, Castle struck out Jake Whitesides on three pitches to close the door on the Beach Bums.

Florence will continue their three game series against Traverse City tomorrow at 2:05 p.m.