First baseman Nathan Messner blasted a pair of home runs and right-hander Aaron Ledbetter became the Frontier League career leader with his 30th victory Monday afternoon as the host Washington Wild Things handed the visiting Florence Freedom their fourth consecutive defeat, 8-4, at Consol Energy Park in Washington, Pa.

Florence grabbed a 2-1 lead in the third inning when first baseman Beau Blacken drilled a two-run home run to left-center field for his second of the season. Washington regained the lead in the bottom of the inning against Freedom right-hander Dave Watkins when second baseman Kyle Werman and right fielder Jarod Rine both legged out triples with a walk to center fielder Chris Sidick sandwiched in between. The Wild Things took a 4-2 advantage and never trailed again. Florence would get back to within a run in the seventh inning when Greg Stone doubled in a pair of runs with two outs, making it a 5-4 ballgame but that was as close as the Freedom would get. Washington tacked on three more runs against Watkins and relievers Jon Troop and Domingo Acosta to account for the final score.

With the win, Ledbetter ran his record to 2-0 while right-hander Gus Hlebovy earned his second save of the season. Watkins, who gave up six runs on only four hits with six strikeouts in six innings fell to 0-1 with the defeat.

Florence (2-4) will be looking to end a four-game losing streak Tuesday night when the Freedom visit Slippery Rock in a 7:05 p.m. EDT start to begin a four-game series with the expansion Sliders. Right-hander Dane Mason will make his second start for Florence. He’ll be opposed by Slippery Rock left-hander Zac Cline.