All season long, the Fayetteville SwampDogs have been the cure for whatever has ailed the Florence Red Wolves.  Florence’s latest winning streak is a prime example of that. It started a week ago when the RedWolves scored four in the ninth for a 5-4 road win against the SwampDogs.  Thursday night at American Legion Field, Florence had to hold on for dear life, but was able to do so when reliever Samuel O’Neill got Eric Grabe to fly out to right field with the bases loaded to end the game, giving the RedWolves a 5-4 win and their fifth consecutive victory after they lost six of seven.  Florence won the season series against Fayetteville 9-3.

“You can’t get too upset when you lose a few in a row because you know just around the corner all you need is one win and you start rolling,” Florence coach Russell Carter said. “And it started at Fayetteville last week when we put up four in the ninth. I just told the guys we needed to win one to relax us. I felt like this group was going to get hot again.”

The RedWolves (32-18 overall, 13-10 second half), who had the best record in the Coastal Plain League’s first half, trail league leader Wilson (35-18) for the best overall record, but are hanging on to the fourth playoff seed right now. If the RedWolves, with five regular season games remaining, can at least keep a hold on one of the top four seeds, they’ll have home-field advantage for their first-round playoff series, which will begin inFlorence on Wednesday.