Kyle Smith homered with two outs and a runner on in the bottom of the ninth inning Tuesday night to give the host Evansville Otters a 4-2 Frontier League victory over the Florence Freedom at Bosse Field.

Florence held a 2-1 lead heading into the bottom of the ninth largely due to seven innings of five-hit pitching by newly signed starter Luke Brown. The left-hander from Nashville, Tenn., was signed earlier in the day and named the Freedom's starting pitcher in place of injured right-hander Nick Dunning.

The Freedom offense was held largely in check by Otters right-hander Justin Jordan, who allowed just two runs on five hits in eight innings of work. Left fielder Ryan Basham accounted for the first run of the game by hitting his ninth home run of the season leading off the fourth. The visitors added to their lead in the sixth when center fielder Reggie Watson led off with a double to left and, after stealing third with one out, came home on first baseman Beau Blacken's double to the gap in right-center field.

Brown entered the seventh still armed with a two-run lead before giving up a leadoff solo homer to Otters designated hitter Mike Spry. One out later, the 5-foot-10, 165-pound Trevecca Nazarene (Tenn.) University product gave up a double to Evansville catcher J.C. Field but responded by retiring the next two hitters in order, capped by a strikeout of left fielder Matt Reynolds.

Freedom left-hander Jon Troop, who leads the Frontier League with 25 appearances, worked a scoreless eighth inning. Troop returned to the mound to begin the ninth when Otters shortstop Ryan Bethel began the inning with a basehit to left. After Spry bunted Bethel to second, Troop retired center fielder Zack Pace on a routine fly ball to center. With Field due up next, Freedom manager Jamie Keefe elected to bring on right-hander Mark Janszen to face Evansville's power-hitting catcher, who hit two homers in Monday night's Florence win in the series opener. On his first pitch to the plate, Janszen uncorked a wild one that enabled Bethel to advance to third with two outs. With the count even at 2-and-2 and the Freedom one strike away from a second straight victory over the Otters, Janszen unleashed another wild pitch that scored Bethel with the tying run. Field drew a walk when the next pitch missed high, setting the stage for Smith. The right-handed hitting second baseman connected for a long home run to left, just his second long ball of the season.

Smith's game-deciding blow made a winner of reliever Jon Lewis (2-1), who worked a 1-2-3 top of the ninth inning after taking over for Jordan. Janszen saw his record slip to 2-5.

Florence is now 2-3 on its current road trip with one game remaining - tomorrow night at 8:05 p.m. EDT at Evansville. All three of Florence's defeats on the trip - two at Southern Illinois and Tuesday's game at Evansville - came after the Freedom had taken a lead into the bottom of the ninth.