The Chillicothe Paints scored five times in the bottom of the seventh inning to overcome a four-run deficit and hand the visiting Florence Freedom a 6-5 setback Wednesday night at VA Memorial Stadium in Chillicothe, Ohio.

Florence built a 5-1 lead heading into the bottom of the seventh, paced by solo home runs from right fielder Dan Guttridge and third baseman Tim Grogan – the first of the season for both. Right-hander Jason Bowlin cruised through the first six innings, limiting the Paints to one run on three hits. But Bowlin was greeted by back-to-back singles to begin the Chillicothe seventh, and when second baseman Evan Sobel bunted the runners over, Florence manager Jamie Keefe brought on left-hander Jon Troop to face Paints lead-off batter Gavin Ng with runners at second and third and one out. Ng proceeded to drop down a bunt single, scoring a run to cut the Paints’ deficit to 5-2. After Troop walked left fielder Paul Rutgers, the Freedom went with right-hander Brian McCullough to face Paints shortstop Travis Garcia. A ground ball to the mound by Garcia appeared to be the start of a possible double play by the Freedom, but catcher Josh Lex mishandled McCullough’s throw for an error, allowing two runs to score. First baseman Jon Poterson followed with a two-run single to right, scoring Rutgers and Garcia to give the Paints their first lead of the game at 6-5. Left-hander Jason Bennion came on to retire the next two hitters to end the inning, but the Florence offense couldn’t muster another threat. Paints right-hander Eric Teall retired all four batters he faced to end the ballgame and record his first save of the season. Paints starter Luke Palmer went seven innings, allowing all five Freedom runs on six basehits but became the winner after the five-run uprising in the seventh. He improves to 2-1. McCullough was tagged with the loss to fall to 0-1.

The Freedom outhit the Paints 8-7, led by first baseman Beau Blacken with two singles, an RBI and a run scored.

Chillicothe swept the two-game series with the Freedom to up its record to 6-8, while the Freedom now have the same 6-8 mark.

Florence heads home to begin a four-game series with the Slippery Rock Sliders beginning at 7:05 p.m. EDT Thursday at Champion Window Field. Former Northern Kentucky University All-American Matt Marksbury (2-0) is scheduled to make his first professional start for the Freedom.