Billy Mottram, making his first start in a Florence Freedom uniform, homered and finished with three hits to pace a 13-hit attack that led the Freedom (2-2) to an 8-4 Frontier League win over visiting Chillicothe (2-1) Saturday night at Champion Window Field.

Mottram, a 23-year-old infielder from Haverhill, Mass., was signed by the Freedom after spending the 2007 season with the Chicago Cubs organization. The former Dowling (N.Y) College standout had batted just once in the Freedom’s first three games before being inserted into the No. 8 spot in the batting order as the designated hitter Saturday. The left-handed hitter singled in the second inning, blasted a two-run homer in the fourth and singled again in the fifth before flying out to right field in his final at-bat in the seventh. Mottram’s home run followed a John Welch double off Chillicothe starter Brian Gartley (0-1) and built the Freedom lead to 4-0. Later in the inning, Gartley walked Freedom shortstop Johnny Washington with two outs and then gave up an RBI double to third baseman Tim Grogan that stretched the Paints’ deficit to 5-0.

Meanwhile, Florence starting pitcher Josh Bruns (1-0) cruised through the first four innings without allowing a hit. A one-out walk to Paints second baseman Drew Saylor in the fourth was the only thing that kept Bruns from being perfect heading into the top of the fifth inning. With one out, Paints left fielder Jaziel Mendoza worked Bruns for a walk and first baseman Jon Potterson followed with a check-swing roller to the right of the mound that resulted in an infield hit, the Paints’ first of the game. Chillicothe catcher Bubba Garcia followed with a double to the alley in right-center field that scored Mendoza and ended Bruns’ shutout bid. Potterson plated the second run of the inning when he scored on a Bruns wild pitch, and the Paints added a third run when Bruns was called for a balk with Garcia at third and one out. The Freedom came back with a run of
their own in the bottom half of the inning to stretch their advantage back to four runs at 7-4. Oddly enough, the Freedom run scored when Paints reliever Chris Perez was called for a balk that scored center fielder Garth McKinney from third.

Bruns left after the fifth inning and turned the game over to the Freedom bullpen. A sixth-inning solo home run by Chillicothe third baseman Adrian Cantu was the only blemish for the Florence relief crew as left-handers Alain Quijano and Stephen Shao, and right-handed closer Cody Castle completed the Freedom’s second win of their current eight-game home stand.

Welch doubled twice and Washington knocked in a pair of runs to help pace the Freedom offensive effort against Gartley and four relievers. Grogan and right fielder Angel Molina each added a pair of hits, with Grogan and left fielder Ryan Basham both collecting RBIs.

No Chillicothe player had more than one hit as the Paints were limited to only four hits while Florence pitching racked up eight strikeouts.

The brief two-game series concludes at 2:05 p.m. EDT Sunday at Champion Window Field with Florence sending left-hander Demetrius Banks (0-0) to the mound against Chillicothe right-hander Brian McCullough (1-0), who will make his first start of the season. McCullough, who began his Frontier League career with the Freedom in 2007, has appeared once in relief and earned a win over the Washington Wild Things when the Paints scored four times in the bottom of the eighth inning to post a come-from-behind 6-4 win May 19 at V.A. Memorial Stadium in Chillicothe.