FLORENCE, Ky. — The River City Rascals took Game 1 of the Frontier League Championship Series 5-2 over the Florence Freedom on Tuesday night, getting seven solid innings from starting pitcher Brendan Feldmann and taking advantage of three costly Freedom errors.
The Rascals jumped out to an early 1-0 lead on an RBI single from Nolan Meadows in the third inning. They scored three more in the fourth, getting an RBI single from Tanner Murphy where an additional run scored on a Freedom throwing error from left fielder Isaac Benard, which was followed by an RBI single from Nick Anderson. Florence got on the board in the sixth on a double play ball, and made it 4-2 on Austin Wobrock’s sacrifice fly in the seventh. The Rascals added an insurance run in the eighth, when Braxton Martinez scored on a throwing error by Freedom second baseman Caleb Lopes.
Feldmann (2-0) earned his second win of the postseason, allowing just a single earned run over seven innings with a walk and seven strikeouts. Rascals relievers Andrew Vernon and Jason Zgardowski combined to retire the final six hitters in order, with Zgardowski earning his third save of the playoffs.
Freedom starter Mike Castellani (1-1) took the loss, allowing four runs, two earned, over five innings with five strikeouts.
The Rascals look to take the commanding 2-0 lead against the Freedom in Game 2 of the series tomorrow night, with first pitch scheduled for 5:35 p.m. CDT from UC Health Stadium. Taylor Ahearn will take the mound for the Rascals, and will be opposed by Scott Sebald of the Freedom. Tickets for Game 3 of the series at CarShield Field on Friday night are available here: bit.ly/2kD8nWH.
