July 4, 2013 - Frontier League (FL) Florence Freedom Normal,IL-The Florence Freedom were in need of a quality start by a starter and they got that from Dan Jensen(4-2). Unfortunately it wasn't enough as the Normal CornBelters defeated the Freedom 4-2 Thursday night at The Corn Crib. The loss snapped the Freedom's streak of five consecutive series wins.

Normal took a 1-0 lead in the second after three straight singles from Ryan Lashley, Tyler Shover and Mike Mobbs. It was Mobbs' RBI single that scored Lashley to give the CornBelters the early lead.

The Freedom tied it in the sixth on an RBI single by left fielder David Harris. Then in the sixth, with the bases loaded and with David Carillo at the plate, Normal starter Michael Schweiss(1-0) plunked him forcing home J.C. Figueroa as the Freedom took a 2-1 lead.

The CornBelters tied it in the seventh on a T.J. Gavlik sacrifice fly. Then in the eighth, Mike Schwartz led off with a single against Jensen. Keoni Manago then got down a sacrifice bunt advancing Schwartz to second. Kit Carter then came in out of the Freedom bullpen. Pat McKenna came through with a ground rule double scoring the go ahead run to give the CornBelters a 3-2 lead. The very next batter saw Oscar Garcia single home McKenna to give them a 4-2 lead.

Jensen suffered the tough loss as he pitched 7.1 innings allowing eight hits on three runs with a strikeout.

Schweiss earned the win throwing eight innings holding the Freedom to six hits on two earned runs. Alan Oaks recorded his second save for Normal. Junior Arrojo led the Freedom with a 2-3 performance.

The Freedom will return to Florence to start a nine game homestand Friday night. The Freedom will begin a three game series with the Frontier Greys. The Freedom will have RHP Chuck Weaver(0-0 2.55) on the mound. The Greys will feature LHP Matt Costello(1-3, 3.49). The game can be heard with Steve Jarnicki and Jake Meyer starting at 6:20 pm on radio station 1320 AM and gospel1320.com.

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Freedom Drop Rubber Match to CornBelters 4-2