Cody Brown, Staff Writer
CHILLICOTHE — In a game that lasted more than three hours in front of a sparse crowd, the Chillicothe Paints (29-17) came out swinging against the West Virginia Miners (16-30) as every starter in the Paints’ starting lineup tallied at least one hit on their way to a 15-3 win.
The Paints started the scoring early in the bottom of the first inning when Chris Eisel (Indiana University of Pennsylvania) singled into left, scoring Cody Orr (Tiffin). After a walk to Cole Andrews (Miami), Trey Smith (University of Indianapolis) singled in Eisel to put the Paints ahead 2-0. Andrews later scored on a sacrifice fly from Parker Murdie (Grand Valley State) while Smith scored on a dropped third strike, giving Chillicothe the early 4-0 lead.
The Miners scored a run in the top of the third to make it 4-1 before the Paints broke the game open in the bottom half of the frame.
Andrews doubled, Smith singled and Tyler Wagner (Northern Kentucky) walked to load the bases before a Murdie walk scored one, an Ethan Hajdukovic (Western Michigan) single scored two more, and Dylan Carpenter (Sinclair Community) singled to center to score another. Two batters later, Justin McIntyre (Western Michigan) logged a one-out, two-run triple to put the Paints on top, comfortably, 10-1.
The scored stayed the same until the bottom of the sixth when Andrews hit a solo home run to lead off the inning. Later in the inning, Carpenter played add on, lacing a single to center, scoring Wagner and Murdie to make it 13-1.
Chillicothe added one in the seventh on a pinch hit sacrifice fly from Charlie Patrick (DePauw) and another in the eighth on a Carpenter single. West Virginia then scored a run in each of the final two innings to round out the final.
On the mound for the Paints, Jack Raines (5-1, Baldwin Wallace) got the win after tossing five innings of one-run baseball. Carpenter led the way at the plate going 3-for-5 with 4 RBIs while Orr, McIntyre, Smith, Hajdukovic and Andrews all had two hits apiece.
The Paints will take tonight’s momentum and head west to Terre Haute (Ind.) to close out the first half of the season, Sunday. First pitch is scheduled for 5:30 p.m. before heading into the Prospect League All-Star break on Monday.
To find news, updates, and more information about the Paints, be sure to visit chillicothepaints.com.