May 27, 2017 3 min read

In the opener of a three-game series between Frontier League Division leaders, the Florence Freedom’s offense was like a South Side Pittsburgh bar during a Friday happy hour – a lot of singles.

Florence had 12 hits, 11 of them singles, and used a five-run third inning to defeat the Wild Things, 9-2, Friday night.

That was the kind of performance you would expect from Florence, which pulled into Wild Things Park with a league-best .317 team batting average but has only eight home runs in 13 games.

“I believe we can hit home runs, but we take the approach of one hit at a time, one pitch at a time. I love playing for these guys,” said Florence shortstop Austin Wobrock, who played the last three years in Washington but was traded to the Freedom during the offseason.

Florence’s lone extra-base hit didn’t even drive in a run. It was a leadoff double by catcher Garrett Vail in the fourth inning. The rest of the night, the Freedom pecked away at Washington’s pitching staff with singles, including five of them off starting pitcher Jordan Schwartz (0-2) in the pivotal third inning.

Schwartz, a former fourth-round draft pick of the Oakland Athletics, breezed through the first two innings but didn’t’ make it through the third.

“Location, location, location,” Washington manager Gregg Langbehn lamented. “When you leave pitches up, you get hurt. We didn’t have reliable secondary pitches and couldn’t stop the bleeding.”

Florence starter Logan Longwith (1-1) was in control throughout his outing, allowing only four hits over seven innings. He did not issue a walk and struck out three.

Not much went right for the Wild Things, who had their four-game winning streak end. The entire night was probably best summed up in one play, in the sixth inning, when Washington shortstop Alex Fernandez hit a solid single to left field but made too wide of a turn around first base and was thrown out on his way back by Wobrock.

One player who did have a big night for the Wild Things was second baseman Kyle Reese, a rookie out of Nicholls State. Reese went 2-for-3 and drove in both Washington runs with a solo home run to left field in the fourth inning and a sacrifice fly in the eighth. He also tripled in the sixth.

Reese was in the lineup because Jace Conrad informed Langbehn following Washington’s win Wednesday night over Southern Illinois that he was retiring.

“Kyle was swinging the bat very well. I was pleased with that,” Langbehn said, “but we have to pitch better.”

Every Florence starter had at least one single. Left fielder Mike Morris, the No. 9 hitter, was 2-for-3, scored three runs and drove in another. Jose Brizuela and Collins Cuthrell each had a two-run single in the Freedom’s third inning.

Morris and Andrew Godbold had run-scoring hits in the fourth inning to give the Freedom, who have a league-best 10-3 record, a commanding 7-0 lead.

“We can’t have starters go three, four, five innings,” Langbehn said. “With our Nos 4 and 5 starters, they just need to be better. I’m sure that’s not lost on them.”

Conrad was batting .314 with one home run and had played in all 12 games. … Prior to the game, Washington filled its open roster spot by activating first baseman/outfielder Stephen Sabol from the disabled list. Sabol, who is the cousin of former Pittsburgh Steelers safety Troy Polamalu, played last year for the New York Mets’ Class AA affiliate in Binghamton, N.Y.