The Washington Wild Things scored six times in the first inning and never trailed on the way to a 12-8 Frontier League baseball win Friday night over the visiting Florence Freedom before a Fourth of July crowd of 3,278 fans at Consol Energy Park in Washington, Pa.

Freedom right-hander Liam Shanahan (2-4) lasted just one-third of an inning in his first start since June 12. The Marietta, Ga., native has been sidelined by a sore elbow and he struggled against the Wild Things (22-20). Shanahan gave up four hits, including two triples and a double, and walked the final three batters he faced before being lifted with the bases loaded, one out and four runs already on the board. Left-handed reliever Alain Quijano was then greeted by an RBI base hit by Washington shortstop Brett Grandstrand to drive in the fifth run of the inning. The Wild Things made it 6-0 when leadoff batter Chris Sidick was hit by a pitch with the bases loaded to force in another run. Quijano retired the next two batters to end the inning, but the damage had been done.

The Florence offense, which leads the Frontier League in batting average and home runs, began to chip away at Washington starter Mike Schellinger (6-2) with single runs in the second and fifth innings along with a pair of runs in the fourth. Freedom first baseman Kelly Hunt got his team on the scoreboard in the second with a long opposite-field solo homer to right, his league-leading 12th of the season. Hunt’s RBI single and catcher Eddie Gonzalez’s sacrifice fly plated the two fourth-inning runs off Schellinger. Center fielder Garth McKinney accounted for the fifth-inning tally with a home run to right-center field, his tenth of the season. That was the extent of the Freedom run production off Schellinger, who fanned 11 in seven innings of work. Florence made it interesting late in the game against the Washington bullpen. Second baseman Billy Mottram drove in a run in the eighth off Wild Things reliever Matt Maradeo, and the Freedom added three more runs in the ninth against right-hander Kevin Reese. A leadoff pinch-hit home run in the ninth by Josh Lex in his first at-bat since being activated off the injured reserve list got the scoring started off Reese. After the right-hander sat down the next two batters, third baseman Tim Grogan and McKinney collected back-to-back singles and both scored on left fielder Ryan Basham’s two-run double off the wall in left-center field. The game ended when Grandstrand made an outstanding diving play on Angel Molina’s hard one-hopper up the middle and threw to first for the final out.

Basham paced the Freedom’s 11-hit attack with three hits, a run scored and two RBIs. Hunt went 2-for-4 and connected for a home run for the fourth consecutive game and the fifth in the last six contests. The 6-foot-5, 250-pound right-handed slugger from Bowling Green, Ohio has taken over the league lead in long balls despite not joining the Freedom until June 12, three weeks into the season.

The Freedom will try to end a two-game losing skid at 7:05 p.m. EDT Saturday when they take on the Wild Things in the middle game of a three-game series at Consol Energy Park. The pitching matchup will pit Florence rookie right-hander Everett Saul (4-1) against veteran Washington right-hander Aaron Ledbetter (6-2).