Shortstop Travis Garcia drove in three runs and left-hander Brian Gartley pitched six-hit ball for 7 2/3 innings Thursday night to pace the host Chillicothe Paints to a 6-3 Frontier League baseball win over the Florence Freedom at V.A. Memorial Stadium.

Gartley (2-1) shut the Freedom offense out for the first seven innings before giving up a pair of two-out run-scoring hits in the eighth. Shortstop Jeff Landry singled to score Dan Guttridge with the first run, and left fielder Ryan Basham doubled off the wall in right to bring Landry home with the second run and spell the end of the night for Gartley. Right-hander Ryan Flanigan came in to face Florence first baseman Angel Molina, who hit a hard ground ball to third that was mishandled by Chillicothe’s Richey Burgos for an error that allowed Basham to come home with the third run of the inning. Freedom designated hitter Billy Mottram was then robbed of a basehit on a diving grab by Paints first baseman Adrian Cantu to end the inning. The Freedom got a runner aboard on an error in the ninth but couldn’t convert against Flanigan, who earned his seventh save.

Freedom right-hander Mike Rocco (0-1) was tagged with the loss in his debut as the starting pitcher. Obtained in a trade from Orange County of the independent Golden League, Rocco went 5 1/3 innings in his first appearance for Florence, giving up five runs (only two earned) on nine hits with four strikeouts and one walk. Right-hander Chris Eberhart also made his debut for the Freedom. The former Florida Atlantic University star worked a 1-2-3 seventh inning before giving up a leadoff single and hitting a batter in the eighth. Yosandy Ibanez came in to finish the inning for the Freedom, with the only run scoring on a wild pitch when Ibanez fanned Travis Garcia swinging on a sharp slider low and away.

Landry was the only Freedom player with more than one hit. Guttridge extended his hitting streak to four consecutive games with his leadoff bunt single in the three-run eighth.

The same two teams meet again at 7:05 p.m. EDT Friday at VA Memorial Stadium. The Freedom will send right-hander Everett Saul (2-1) to the mound against Paints right-hander Andrew Polk (3-1).