Offense Stumbles In Loss

Southern Illinois 3, Chillicothe 0

Coming back home to V.A. Memorial Stadium, the Chillicothe Paints were in a game that was close for most of the time but by the end of the game, the offense couldn't come up with any asnwers for the three runs that the Southern Illinois Miners posted up. If you take a look at this game, this game was well pitched by both ballclubs.

Mike Rocco, recently signed by the Paints, made the start. For awhile, Rocco was pitching quite well, until he ran into trouble late in his outing. He pitched 6 and 2/3 innings, which was a good sign, but gave up 8 hits, two of them home runs that were completely sent to oblivion by two Miners batters. Rocco gave up 3 runs in all. He gave up 3 walks and plunked a batter while striking out one batter.

Stpehen Spragg was the only other Paints pitcher to take the mound in this game. He pitched the rest of the game and recorded 3 K's. Other than the three runs that were given up, if you take away that stretch of consecutive hits, Mike Rocco would've had a decent outing. Spragg was solid for his relief appearance. It was one of his good days.

For the offense, the Paints kept getting into trouble whenever it came to baserunning moving runners over via the bunt or the hit and run. Nathan Faulkner had a single in the first inning, but he would be caught napping at second base. Travis Garcia had an infield single. Travis Storrer had a single. Jeff Vincent had a single. Gerardo Verastegui had a single. That was all for the offense in this game.

In other news, Miners first baseman Tim Dorn is tall. When you look on from the stands and you see #35 for the Miners, Tim Dorn is a pretty big guy. His height compared to let's say Joe Spiers of the Paints, Dorn is head and shoulders taller than someone like Spiers. But make no mistake, Dorn can rake and mash the ball, and he's made a living of that in the Frontier League.