The Florence Freedom scored three runs in the eighth inning and went on to a 5-3 win over the host Chillicothe Paints Wednesday night at VA Memorial Stadium in Chillicothe, Ohio.

After being limited to a run on five hits through the first seven innings against starter Mike Rocco, the Freedom reached reliever Jeff Michael (2-1) for four hits to start the eighth. Matt Hackney singled to start the inning and after Eric Padilla flied to center, the next three hitters – Eddie Gonzalez, Garth McKinney and Ryan Basham – followed with consecutive base hits. Basham’s hit drove in two runs to tie the game at 3-3. Left-hander Joe Brown was then brought on to face second baseman Billy Mottram with runners at first and second and one out. Mottram proceeded to single into left-center field to score McKinney from second for what turned out to be the winning run. First baseman Josh Lex added an insurance run with a lead-off homer off Brown in the ninth.

Everett Saul (7-7) was the recipient of the Freedom offensive uprising in the eighth. The rookie right-hander got the win. Right-hander Chris Eberhart worked a scoreless eighth before turning it over to left-hander Chris Ingoglia, who earned his second save in as many nights with a 1-2-3 ninth inning. Freedom starter Andy Schon went the first six innings. The right-hander allowed two runs on nine hits with five strikeouts and no walks.

The Freedom ended the season with a 47-49 record and didn’t qualify for post-season play. Chillicothe winds up the season with a 39-57 mark and will no longer field a Frontier League team. The Chillicothe Paints will convert to a summer collegiate league organization beginning with the 2009 baseball season.