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CRESTWOOD, IL- A back and forth game between the Windy City ThunderBolts and Florence Freedom saw the Freedom come out on top, winning the game and the best of three series in a 9-7 ‘Bolts loss.

The beginning of the game saw both starting pitchers doing very well, pitching in his first start as a professional for the ThunderBolts was Donovan Drake, for the Freedom it was Alec Lewis. Both would not face any trouble, both keeping a no-hitter in tact up until the bottom of the third rolled around.

The ‘Bolts struck first in this one, getting off to an early lead started by hot hitting Jareck West. He hit a double to lead off the inning, then scored immediately after on an RBI single from Travis Weaver. Weaver would later score and Windy City would take a 2-0 lead.

It didn’t take long for the Freedom to strike back, they quickly got a run in the top of the 4th with a Jim Jacquot RBI single.

The 5th inning was big for both teams, Florence came out first and was able to see 3 runners score and put themselves up 4-2 heading into the bottom of the inning. It was here that controversy was sparked, and new energy came to the trailing ThunderBolts. Chris Wade squeezed a bunt towards first to try and put Brandon Pearl in scoring postion. While running to first he was hit in the back by a throw to 1st, and was called out on runners interference. Manager Morgan Burkhart came out to argue, and was ejected by Matt Moore, the umpire who made the call. From that point on it was all Windy City, they went on to score 3 runs to answer the questionable call, and led after the inning.

It would be back and forth from that point on, the ‘Bolts tallying 1 in the 6th to put the lead up to 2 runs, then to see the Freedom score 1 in the 7th and 8th to tie it at six all. The Freedom came alive in the top of the ninth, scoring three runs off of the Windy City bullpen, and take the lead.

The ThunderBolts would score 1 in the bottom of the 9th, but couldn’t make the full comeback and lost the home series 1 games to 2. Shane Zegarac (0-1) took his first loss of the season while Jose Velazquez (2-0) picked up his 2nd win for the Freedom.

The ThunderBolts will now head on the road for a three game series against the Rockford RiverHawks. In the 7:05pm start Mike Recchia (3-0) will get the start for the ThunderBolts. You can hear all that road action at http://wxav.com/ Pre-game starts at 6:45pm.

Box Score