sfoggi posted on June 11, 2011 21:59
ORLANDO, Fla. (June 10, 2011) - The Orlando Freedom (1-7) outhit, outpitched and outplayed their opponent for eight innings in Saturday night’s contest at Orel Hershiser Field at The First Academy. Eight innings was not quite enough as Orlando fell to the DeLand Suns, 9-8.
A six-run ninth inning propelled the Suns to the victory as the Freedom gave up a five run lead to drop their third consecutive game.
Orlando starting pitcher Garrett Nuss (Mt. Dora HS) was nothing short of spectacular in five innings of work. Nuss allowed just two runs in his outing on two hits, while racking up nine punch outs before being removed due to a pitch count near the 100 mark limit.
The Freedom struck first in the game in the second inning. Lawrence Pardo (Appalachian St.) and Matt Frank (Jacksonville) led off the inning with singles before Matt Mattone (Palm Beach St.) crushed a double to drive in Pardo; Cory Angelo (West Florida) singled to knock in Frank. Two batters later, Zack Houck (Jacksonville) hit a fielder’s choice to bring in another run and push the Freedom lead to 3-0.
Orlando added another run in the third as Kevin Lehane (Jacksonville) led off the inning with a double. A Pardo single moved Lehane to third before Frank hit a groundout to bring in the fourth Freedom run.
DeLand (3-5) notched their first two runs in the fifth inning. This was the only time the Suns would get to starter Nuss.
The Freedom added another run in the sixth and three more in the seventh. The sixth inning run came off the bat of Mattone as he launched a leadoff homer over the left field wall. The seventh featured nine Orlando hitters coming to the plate in an inning in which they plated three runs on three hits highlighted by a Mattone double to score two.
Mattone led the way for the Freedom grabbing three hits and knocking in four. Mattone also scored two runs.
Orlando’s bullpen took over in the sixth and rolled through the Sun’s hitters for three innings. In total, the Freedom pitching staff struck out 16 batters while walking seven. With an 8-3 lead, it seemed as though Orlando would grab their second win of the season on a complete team effort.
The ninth told a different tale, however. The Suns started with six straight batters reaching base and four runs coming in to score without a recorded out. After a pitching change, the lead stood at 8-7 Freedom with the bases loaded and no outs.
Joseph Burns (Samford) came in to pitch and was able to get the first out of the inning. However, a single followed immediately after and the Freedom trailed for the first time in the game 9-8. That is how the contest would finish as Orlando went quietly in the bottom of the ninth.
Jairo Acevedo (Bethune Cookman) earned the win for the Suns, while Freedom pitcher Josh Larson (Santa Fe) took his second loss on the year.
Offensively, Mattone and Pardo led the way for the Freedom, combining for seven hits, four runs batted in and four runs scored. Lehane and Jake Huxtable (Santa Fe) added two hits apiece as well.
For the Freedom, the loss spelled just another tough outing in a long opening week in the Florida League. The squad will enjoy a much needed two days off before returning to action Tuesday (June 14) against Saturday night’s opponent the DeLand Suns. The game will start a three game road trip before Orlando returns back to Orel Hershiser Field Friday (June 17). Game time Tuesday is slated for 11 am.
Jake Snyder (Marshall University)