The Florence Freedom scored three runs in the second inning and held off a late Chillicothe rally to edge the host Paints 4-3 Friday night at VA Memorial Stadium in Chillicothe, Ohio.

The win stopped a four-game road losing streak for the Freedom (14-15) and upped Florence’s record against Chillicothe (15-13) in 2008 to 4-1.

Trailing 4-2 entering the bottom of the ninth, the Paints greeted Freedom closer Cody Castle with back-to-back singles by second baseman Drew Saylor and pinch-hitter Jon Poterson. Leadoff hitter Josh Blackstock then bunted the runners into scoring position with one out. Center fielder Jeff Vincent drew a walk from Castle to load the bases for shortstop Travis Garcia, who had already driven in four runs in the series. Garcia got fooled on a Castle pitch but his check-swing roller to second got a run in as Billy Mottram threw him out at first. Freedom manager Jamie Keefe then elected to intentionally walk Paints first baseman Adrian Cantu, who entered the game with a .407 batting average and earlier extended his hitting streak to 10 consecutive games. That re-loaded the bases for Paints left fielder Montana Dye, who had gone 1-for-4 with an infield single and a pair of strikeouts prior to the ninth. Castle then got Dye to hit a soft line drive headed toward center field, but Mottram back-handed it on a hop near second and threw a strike to first to retire Dye and end the ballgame.

Freedom right fielder John Welch keyed the big second inning with a two-run homer to straight-away center field off Paints starter Andy Polk (3-2) after Chillicothe started the scoring with an unearned run in the first off Florence starter Everett Saul (3-1).

Neither team would score again after the Freedom’s second-inning surge until the eighth. Right-handers Polk and Saul were equally effective after the early scoring. Saul went seven innings, allowing just an unearned run on two hits with three walks and five strikeouts. Polk worked 7 1/3 innings of six-hit, three-run ball with two walks and six strikeouts.

The two teams have each won a game in their three-game series which concludes at 6:35 p.m. EDT Saturday at VA Memorial Stadium. The Freedom will send rookie right-hander Andy Clark (1-0) to the mound against Paints right-hander Andrew McCormick (1-2).