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Freeman ignites Rascals in 11-5 win

In total, the Rascals went through the lineup five times and eight different Rascals notched at least one hit and scored a run.

 

Clint Freeman stroked his tenth home run of the season and tallied four RBI en route to a Rascals (47-41) 11-5 victory in the series finale against the Florence Freedom (55-33) Thursday night at UC Health Stadium.

In total, the Rascals went through the lineup five times and eight different Rascals notched at least one hit and scored a run.

Paul Kronenfeld, like Freeman, also had a stellar night and led the team with a trio of hits and improved his batting average to a season high .291.

The Rascals offense began their explosion in the third inning and scored seven unanswered runs to take a 7-2 lead before the contest’s halfway point.

Fifth year shortstop Johnny Morales delivered the Rascals first RBI and it came via a RBI groundout to score the speedy Brandon Thomas in the top of the third inning, cutting the deficit to 2-1.

One inning later, the Rascals sent eight batters to the plate and dropped a four spot, chasing the Freedom starter, Jordan Kraus, out of the game.

Josh Silver began the stanza as he was hit by a pitch with one out and then came around to score after a pair of singles, including a RBI single from St. Louis University product Braxton Martinez.

Martinez’s key hit tied the game at two and caused the opponents manager Dennis Pelfrey to make an early call to the bullpen. Pelfrey replaced Kraus with Enqirue Zamora and Clint Freeman broke the tie on Zamora’s first pitch with a three-run round tripper to give him a career high ten home runs on the year.

The Rascals jumped on Zamora again in the top of the fifth and Mike Jurgella would come around to extend the Rascals lead to 6-2 after a single and a pair of errors from the Freedom defense. Paul Kronenfeld added one more run to the advantage with a RBI single to drive in Jason Merjano.

A 7-2 lead halfway through the game was enough for the Rascals pitching staff and the offense was able to add four more insurance runs following the stretch.

Johnny Morales drove in half of the late inning runs with a two RBI single and then Josh Ludy and Clint Freeman each notched a RBI single to finalize the 11 run, 12 hit night for the Rascals.

Starting southpaw Dan Ludwig earned the win, his sixth of the year and turned in seven innings of work.

In the victory, Ludwig allowed five runs, earned, on ten hits and struck out five.

The opponent managed just two runs against him for the first six inning and then added one in the seventh and two in the eighth to break a quality start.

Ludwig’s victory keeps the Rascals extremely close to the Windy City ThunderBolts in the Frontier League postseason race and sit just .5 game back with eight games remaining.

The hunt for the playoffs continues Friday night as the Rascals travel to the Corn Crib to take on the Normal CornBelters.

First pitch is scheduled for 6:35 p.m.

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