A week ago, the Florence RedWolves had become almost an afterthought in the Coastal Plain League’s South Division second-half race.  Things have changed drastically over the past few days.  After losing six of seven, the RedWolves won their fourth in a row by beating division leader Morehead City 7-2 on Tuesday in the first game of what was scheduled to be a doubleheader.

The second game was rained out and will be made up as part of a doubleheader when Morehead City returns to Florence on Saturday. First pitch is scheduled for 6 p.m.  Florence improved to 12-10 in the second half – 31-18 overall – and pulled to within 2 ½ games of the Marlins, who fell to 13-6 in the second half.

Most of the game, played in a steady drizzle, was just like a game might typically be between two of the better teams in the CPL – close.  But Florence (31-18 overall, 12-10 second half) never trailed and blew the game open in the sixth, scoring five runs.  The RedWolves broke a 2-2 tie when Peter Mooney doubled home John Frost with one out. After Mooney went to third on a wild pitch and Stephen Carmon walked, Trey Hernandez singled through the left side of a drawn-in infield to make it 4-2.

Ethan Santora put the game out of reach with a three-run home run to left-center, his team-best sixth homer of the year. It also gave him his 35^th RBI, second on the team behind Hernandez’s 39.  Santora and Mooney each had two hits to lead Florence at the plate.  Colby Holmes pitched six innings to get the win, improving to 3-3. Holmes gave up six hits, struck out six and walked three. South Carolina’s David de la Chappelle pitched a perfect ninth to close out the game.

For most of the game, Morehead City’s Rodney Quintero was able to pitch around the seven walks he gave up. Ronnie Freeman hit a leadoff homer in the bottom of the second and Herman Petzold’s soft double down the right-field line scored Hernandez in the third to give Florence a 2-0 lead.  But Quintero (1-1) kept his team in the game in his third start of the year until the Marlins could tie it up.  Joe Sclafani walked to start the fourth and eventually scored on Chris Taylor’s RBI single. Morehead City tied it in the sixth on Chad Oberacker’s RBI single, scoring Luke Smierciak.

Chris Schaeffer followed Oberacker with a single to left to give Morehead City runners at first and second with one out. But Oberacker pulled up lame, clutching his leg, between second and third on a stolen base attempt and was easily tagged out and Holmes struck out Taylor looking to end the threat.