The Florence Freedom, presented by Titan Mechanical Solutions, took a tight pitching duel into extra innings on Sunday afternoon and fell to the Lake Erie Crushers, 3-2, on an eleventh-inning walk-off sacrifice fly at Sprenger Stadium.

With the score tied at 1-1 entering the eleventh, Daniel Fraga began the inning on second base under the International Tiebreaker Rule. Taylor Oldham grounded out to short, advancing Fraga to third, before Andre Mercurio plated the go-ahead run for the Freedom (32-19) with a flyout to center.

But with Keivan Berges (1-1) taking over on the mound in the bottom half, tiebreaker runner Jordan Dean advanced to third on a sacrifice bunt and scored the tying run for the Crushers (23-27) on a Sean Hurley single. Another single and an intentional walk loaded the bases, and Connor Oliver delivered a sacrifice fly to right field, scoring Hurley and handing Florence its fifth straight loss and a series sweep.

Starting pitchers Jordan Kraus and Steve Hagen battled, with Kraus pitching nine innings and striking out seven, while Hagen went seven innings for Lake Erie and fanned six. Each hurler held the opposition to a single run on four hits, with Kraus surrendering a Hurley RBI-double in the first inning and Hagen allowing a game-tying solo home run to Fraga in the third.

Kraus nine-inning performance was his second of the season but resulted in the right-handers first no-decision of the year. Kraus left the would-be go-ahead run stranded in each of his final three innings to keep the game tied, as the Freedom offense managed just one hit after the Fraga homer.

Manny Arciniega (1-0) earned the win in relief, pitching the final three innings and holding Florence to one hit.

The Frontier League all-star break begins Monday, with the 2017 Frontier League All-Star Game scheduled for 7:00 p.m. at Slammers Stadium in Joliet, Illinois. Eight players will represent the Freedom in the game. The regular season resumes Friday, when the Freedom open a three-game series at home against the Normal CornBelters. First pitch is scheduled for 7:05 p.m. at UC Health Stadium.

The Florence Freedom are members of the independent Frontier League and play all home games at UC Health Stadium located at 7950 Freedom Way in Florence, KY.The Freedom can be found online at FlorenceFreedom.com, or by phone at 859-594-4487.

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All-Star break comes just in time for struggling Freedom, losers of five straight on the road - User-generated content (press release) (registration)