Paints Defeat Bombers

Chillicothe 4, Dubois County 1

The Chillicothe Paints made their first trip out to Huntingburg, Indiana for the first time a long, long time. The last time the Paints played a team from Huntingburg, they played against the Dubois County Dragons of the Frontier League. That can now be archived because the Paints faced a new Dubois County team in the form of the Bombers. The odd thing about the setup for this game was that both teams were wearing very similar styles of jerseys. Both teams were wearing blue jerseys with red numbers and letters. The only difference that you could point out would be that the Paints wore gray pants, and the Bombers wore white.

Stephen Shackleford took the mound for the Paints in this game. Make no mistake about it, he did a great job considering everything that went on defensively for the Paints. Shackleford went 8 innings deep in his start, giving up hits, a walk, and a run, but take note that the run he gave up was an unearned run. The Paints got shaky defensively in the fourth inning as they gave up a run to the Bombers making it a 2-1 game at the time. Shackleford would strike out 5 batters, so overall, he made a solid start otherwise. The only thing that you could really put on Stephen would be that his pickoff throws nearly escaped first baseman Kris McDonough. Chadd Steinborn pitched the ninth inning and got the job done, striking out a batter and retiring the Bombers.

For the offense, third baseman Zach Leonard had a single. Catcher Andrew Marshall had a 2-RBI double and a single. Shortstop Ben Allen was probably the most poised and focused Paints batter in the lineup, as he was batting seventh in the order, but he still got in a couple of hits. Ben got in a single and then drove in 2 RBI's with a triple in the top of the eighth inning. Tim Krofcheck had a bunt infield single. The one thing that was alluding the offense all night in the other game against the Slippery Rock Sliders at home was more present with the offense on the road against the Bombers. The Paints showed better plate discipline, and it came into play with the timely hitting late in the game.

First baseman Matt Abro had to leave the Paints because of academic duties that he had to fulfill back in the Detroit area. He has to pass a test to be elligible for college ball later on this year, according to Greg Bigam via the radio broadcast. With that said, the Paints will now have to be looking to fill a roster spot since Abro is now gone. Kris McDonough, usually playing as a catcher in Ohio University, made the start at first base, but the results from this game kind of showed that he's not used to playing first base. The Paints do still have Cory Maguire, but they will need more support for that position just out of precautionary measures. It should be interesting to see what comes out of this.

Not Quite Enough

Slippery Rock 2, Chillicothe 1

The Chillicothe Paints came off a great win the other day, going up against the foes who have been taking them on and have handling them just fine. The Slippery Rock Sliders deserve credit for what they have done against the Eastern Division leading Paints. They have done quite a good job of executing their gameplan against the Paints in many of the meetings that the two teams have had. Starting pitcher for the Sliders, Cory Mazzoni, was on a roll for some parts of the game. He had even recorded a string of consecutive strikeouts. Overall, Mazzoni managed to record 8 strikeouts against Chillicothe's offense.

On the flip side, Paints starter Rex Ingham did a fairly good job on the mound in this game. The good news was that he didn't give up many runs. He only gave up a pair of runs while giving up 9 hits and a walk. Also, he did quite well when it came to striking out batters. He struck out 4 batters in 6 innings pitched, but unfortunately, the two-run homerun shot that he gave up early in the game proved to be the difference maker in this ballgame. Ingham held his own and he did what he had to do if you take away the homerun he gave up. He kept the Paints in the ballgame, and that's important.

For the offense, DH Kyle Galbraith had a double. Third baseman Zach Leonard had an RBI single. Catcher Brandon White had a double. Second baseman Tim Krofcheck had an infield single. Not much was going on for the Paints, though. It was pretty hard for the Paints to get to Cory Mazzoni because there may have been a slight lack of patience at the plate. I saw a lot of first pitch swings during at-bats.

I know that players can be a bit jumpy and anxious when it comes to getting those bats out there, but you have to find the right pitch. Sometimes, finding the right pitch requires a batter to wait just a little bit. Take into account that the pitcher dealing from the mound may still be fairly fresh. You could tire him out a little bit first and then dig in for that hit. Oh well. It just happens, and you just have to deal with the situations you make for yourself. The team did a good job in some areas of this game, but the production wasn't enough to keep up with the Sliders.

I don't know what it is, but whenever we play any team from the state of Pennsylvania, and it doesn't matter where in that state teams come from, the Paints always seem to have some sort of problem against the Pennsylvania teams. Case and point, the Washington Wild Things used to always dominate the Paints in many facets of the Frontier League game. Hopefully, we don't continued that trend with the Slippery Rock Sliders or with the Butler Blue Sox, because I don't want this case of deja vu happening all over again.

The Paints hit the road, and they will travel to Dubois County to face the Dubois County Bombers tomorrow night.

Walking Off In Style

Chillicothe 3, Butler 2

"What a game!"

That should be the reaction from the crowd that watched all nine innings of a game that could have gone either way. It was a back and forth game, and the runs scored were so well timed if you think about it. This was a game that featured good plays, shaky plays, and plays that hovered around both areas. Overall, this was a game that had a little bit of everything for everybody watching. This is what baseball is all about, giving the people what they want to see at certain times. On this occasion, a walk-off winning hit will do just the thing.

Tony Bertucci made the start for the Chillicothe Paints. Bertucci had been pitching under rough situations the past couple times he took the mound, but for this one, he did a pretty good job even though he eventually gave up two runs to get the Butler Blue Sox back in the game. In his outing, Bertucci went 7 innings deep, and he would give up two runs on four hits allowed and one walk allowed.

Tony would record five strikeouts on the day. I do take into account the pair of runs that he gave up late in his start, but still, I believe he had a much more solid start this time. This was good for Tony, and this is something for him to take in as a positive thing. When you need horses on the mound to make up your starting rotation, you're gonna need guys who can find a way to battle through any mess that's handed to them. For the most part, Tony did a good job when he was dealt with any problems here.

Eric Heckaman would come in relief of Bertucci, and he would pitch the last two innings of the ballgame. Heckaman has not made many appearances ever since that hiccup back at Richmond where he gave up three runs to the Riverrats in the ninth inning. Today was a much different story for Eric Heckaman. He got on a roll during his appearance, and he managed to strike out four batters. He gave up three hits and a walk. Tight games like this require tightened arms in the bullpen, and relievers need to be there to pick up the team when things are getting a bit too interesting. I was glad to see Eric pick himself up in this game.

Now for the offense. There have been a couple of late inning heroics made by the teams that the Paints have played, but for once, for this game, the Paints played the roles of the late inning heroes. Shortstop Ben Allen had two singles, a double, and an RBI. Second baseman Kyle Gendron had two singles and an RBI. Left fielder Andy Brouse had a single.

DH Cory Maguire only had a single, but this was a big single. The single Maguire had came at the bottom of the ninth inning to start the rally for the Paints. The hit came off an 0-2 pitch count. Zach Frentsos bunted the ball, and the Butler defense made a hiccup. The ball got away from Butler's first baseman, and that allowed both Frentsos and Tim Krofcheck, pinch running for Maguire, to get to second and third. Catcher Andrew Marshall was intentionally walked to load the bases, seemingly to give Butler a chance at the double play. Zach Leonard pinch hit for Matt Abro, and he mashed the game-winning single to left field to score Krofcheck.

For those of you wondering, I did get the chance to talk to Jason Wuerfel, manager of the Blue Sox before the game, and it was a good, short chat we had. I offered him a suggestion about one of the features for the Blue Sox, and we talked about other things. I won the Autographed Bat and the chance to get my picture taken with a Paints player. I chose Ben Allen to be the Paints player to be in the picture with me. Ben is a good guy, and he was nice to me when we had a short talk. Ben Allen is slowly becoming my favorite player on the Paints because of the way he's handling things right now in the trenches for the team. The Paints now will play the Slippery Rock Sliders, who are still in the area of the Eastern Division lead conversation.

Paints Get The Job Done

Chillicothe 4, Butler 1

This game featured one of the best bursts of offense that the Paints have shown in quite a while. Looking at the scoreboard going into the bottom of tthe seventh inning, you could see that a familiar script was being played out once again by the guys in the white jerseys, something that had been a thorn in their sides for this past week. Although being down by a score of 1-0 late in the game looked bad, there was always that chance of coming back. After all, it was only a one run lead for Butler, so anything was possible.

Blake Mascarello made his first start of the season for the Paints. He has often been the guy who comes in relief of pitchers when they need the help. In this game, Mascarello started things off on the mound, and it turned out that Blake was a pleasant surprise. He would give up 4 hits and a walk, but he strike out six batters on the night, and he would hang in there for a good seven innings. Now even though that throughout his start he was on the short end, Mascarello held his own, and he kept the Paints in the ballgame, because unlike other games where the flood of runs would continue to pour in, the runs for Butler simply stopped at just numero uno.

Krist Linster and Chadd Steinborn also did their jobs in keeping the Blue Sox at bay for this game. They did not surrender any runs at all, and between the two relief pitchers, they only gave up one hit. Yes, one hit and that was it. Linster gave up the only hit in the late innings while Steinborn gave up just a pair of walks. I have noticed that the pitching staff is more capable of bouncing back at an earlier rate than the hitting squad can. Pitching is slightly more valuable in the sense that you need stoppers against opposing offenses that may be blazing with base hit material or with brute home run power. I've learned over the years that you can just never have enough good pitching. Solid pitching staffs come only once in a while.

For the offense, shortstop Ben Allen had an infield single and a double. Left fielder Andy Brouse was, by all means, sizzling around the basepaths, as he had a double and a triple. Right fielder Eian Banks had an RBI double. DH Zach Frentsos looked really impressive at the plate in this game, as he had two doubles and an RBI. Frentsos has been stroking the ball more properly in his recent trips to the plate. He's starting to make the right adjustments when it comes to the wooden bats. He did start off slow, but if he keeps this up, then I have a feeling that we'll see him get more starts in the outfield. Kyle Gendron had a pinch hit RBI single in the seventh inning.

Overall, a great bouncing back for the offense in this game. I was impressed with the resiliency here. This has been missing in recent games for whatever reason, but in front of the home crowd and knowing that the last three games you had at your backyard were all losses, you knew that the Paints had more than enough motivation to get this win in and make their hits important in the late innings. Sometimes, you just have to have that sense of urgency once in a while. I don't prefer reacting under the pressure all the time, but if you need a motivational tool, then it doesn't hurt to react under the pressure then. In that sense, you're challenging yourself.

I saw Butler Blue Sox manager Jason Wuerfel, and obviously, he was enjoying himself having fun with his team. I would like to tell Jason right now (and I'm sure he will read this) that I didn't have the time to talk to him, unfortunately because I was preoccupied with some stuff unrelated to baseball, such as what I would like to do in the future, but I want to say that I'm really glad that he wanted to come to the Prospect League and manage. I'm thankful that for some of the coaches in this league, there are indeed familiar faces that used to be in the Frontier League. Sure enough, I'll get to talk to Jason, and that will be a fun time. I would like to thank Jason for his support of me.

A Loss In The Wind

Butler 7, Chillicothe 2

The Chillicothe Paints capped off a two game road trip to Butler, Pennsylvania with a split, but perhaps in this case, they may have to get a feel about what's going on with the way things are going because this past week has featured slumping not yet seen previously. This game featured nor real big explosion of hits that lead to some runs. The Paints only mustered out two runs in this ballgame, and for the Butler Blue Sox, they did a good job of taking down the Paints when they opportunities presented themselves.

It started with the first pitcher on the mound for the Paints. Tony Davey did not have a stellar game. He was a bit shaky from the start, and he couldn't establish himself a presence on the mound that starters need to do. Going 5 and 1/3 innings deep in his start, Davey gave up 9 hits, a hit batter, and a walk, and that lead to giving up 5 earned runs. He struck out four batters, but the damage was already done. The Blue Sox pulled away to a 5-2 lead that they wouldn't give up, and extended their lead by two runs more. This just wasn't a good day for Davey. I don't know what could be going wrong for him, but this has been present in his starts where he starts off shaky. I'm hopeful that whatever problems there are, they'll be corrected.

Stephen Shackleford came in relief of Davey, and he gave up two hits and two walks in 1 and 2/3 innings of work. This amounted to one earned run given up. Brad Schnitzer put in one inning of work and gave up two hits, which lead to earned run. He struck out a batter. Remember earlier when I was talking about making adjustments? Well, I think now would be a good time to talk about making adjustments again, because you have to realize that the new Paints have to make adjustments whenever they go out to other ballparks in the Prospect League. Everything becomes different, at least a little bit.

For the offense, Zach Leonard had a single and an RBI. Cory Maguire had an RBI double. DH Andy Brouse had a single. Kyle Gendron had a single. Steven Mirizzi had a single. That was the only offense that came out from the Paints. I can't say it enough how things have been going up and down for the Paints' offense this past week. Consider that we're in a new environment in the baseball world, and things are different with the Prospect League, but when you go through a slump, it's just hard for me not to wonder what it could be that might be hindering the Paints ability right now. It's hard not to take notice that the Paints can go through numerous innings without even scoring a run, but nonetheless, these things go in cycles. They're just phases.

In other unrelated news...

To be honest, I don't know what's going to happen when it comes to my reports in the future. I don't know because I get the feeling that they're becoming less and less professional with every passing report. That may not be the case after all, but unfortunately, I feel that way. I feel like sometimes I just reach for something to report on. There's not much of a story if I just have to write similar statistics and tell people how the game went down. In other words, I need extra motivation, and not only that, but I need more material, plain and simple. There have been things going on in life away from baseball that I've been needing to clear up, and sometimes that can be a big cloud over me in recent times.

Paints get off the slide

Chillicothe 3, Butler 1

After dropping three straight games on their home turf, the Painst were going through a bummer of a losing streak, slipping and sliding as it were. However, this game on the road against the Butler Blue Sox was pretty much what the doctor had ordered for the Paints. The weather for this game was a bit iffy throughout the night, as towards the end of the game, it started to rain heavily for a brief time until the rain died down well enough for the teams to finish off the game.

For the game, Clayton Schulz made the start for the Paints. Once again, he did a good job holding his own, as he went 7 innings deep in his start. He only gave up one earned run while giving up only three hits and a pair of walks. He did another splendid job of striking out batters, as he got 6 K's recorded. Schulz, the youngest player on the Paints' roster, is making an impact for this team. If anything, you are never too young to be an ace for this starting rotation if you can be able to bring it just like Schulz, because there hasn't been much at all to really talk about negatively when it comes to his starts. Schulz was a senior in high school last year, and he signed on with a college (North Florida University) earlier this year. It's good to see Schulz succeeding, and as Paints manager Brian Mannino put it, growing up through the whole process.

Mark Williams and Chadd Steinborn made relief appearances for the Paints, and they pitched one inning each. Both of them did a swell job. No damage was done to the Paints' lead when they got into the game. They held the fort down and kept the Blue Sox batters at bay. I believe the pitchers are coming around again, and I think the slide had more to do with the shaky defense than it did with the pitching, but then again, nobody knows for sure. Anyway, things just went well for the pitching at Butler for this game. It's always nice to see stellar pitching out there on the mound.

Let's take a look at the offense for the Paints.

For the first time in a while, the offense for the Paints was present, and they did make some noise in this game. They made quite enough noise to get the Blue Sox rattled, and they got in three runs. Kyle Galbraith, once again starting in center field, had a triple. Shortstop Ben Allen was bumped up to second in the batting order, and he would get a single and an RBI off a sacrifice fly. DH Cory Maguire had a single. Kyle Gendron had two singles. Zach Frentsos also had two singles. Catcher Kris McDonough had a 2-RBI double. Left fielder Steven Mirizzi had a single. Overall, this was a much better showing for the offense that had gone missing for at least 13 straight innings, as they didn't get a run scored in that span.

Listening in on the radio broadcast commentated by Greg Bigam, I had heard that the ballpark at Butler featured two different types of surfaces. For the infield, it had a FieldTurf surface. For the outfield, it was just a normal, natural grass field. That isn't so common by baseball standards because you are either settling on one surface or the other when you are setting up your ballpark. Only on rare occasions, and in this case it makes sense, do you improvise and use two surfaces at once for your playing field. Personally, I have no problem with this. It may not look so appealing to others, but I think it does the job. In fact, it is interesting that you have to deal with two surfaces because players have to make adjustments.

Welcome To The Slide

Springfield 1, Chillicothe 0

The last time the Chillicothe Paints faced a team that was from Springfield, Illinois would have to be in the year 2001, as the Springfield Capitals were a mainstay for the Frontier League for a good chunk of time until they moved up to Rockford. Well, what can you say about a game that you had an okay chance of making noise, and yet you couldn't get the hits you needed to win? This game didn't get out of hand because the pitching for the Chillicothe Paints wasn't all that bad this time around, but on the same hand, there wasn't any response from the offense.

A.J. Achter made the start for the Paints, and he did give up the one run, but if you take away that one run, he really did do a pretty good job considering the situation. Achter went 6 innings deep in his start, giving up six hits and two walks, but he proceeded to record 8 K's. I noticed quite often in pretty tight situations that Achter actually pitched better when there were runners in scoring position for Springfield. His pitches had a batter time of finding the strike zone then than when there weren't any runners in scoring position. A.J. held off the Sliders as best as he could.

Blake Mascarello and Chadd Steinborn made relief appearances after Achter's start, and they too did a good job of preventing Springfield from scoring any more runs. So in essence, the pitching was present at the V.A. in this game for the Paints, but the hitting remained to be missing in action. This is just another case of having a few elements of your team ready, but some other elements just aren't there with you yet.

Kyle Galbraith made another start in center field, and he had a single in the sixth inning. New face for the Paints, Zach Leonard, started at third base and had a single and a double. Left fielder Andy Brouse had an infield single. Shortstop Ben Allen had an infield single and a triple in this game, so he was fairly productive. However, he was part of a controversial play in the bottom of the eighth inning as Kyle Galbraith was intending to bunt with Allen on third, trying to get him to score. However, Galbraith failed to get the bunt down. The catcher caught it and tagged Allen out, who was storming towards home. To be honest though, it was a bang-bang play, and there might have been a chance of Allen escaping the tag to score. The out call got Paints manager Brian Mannino heated, but for good reason.

You couldn't have written a more repititive script for the hitting side of things, as batted balls by the Paints kept going right at the Springfield Sliders' gloves. There was no consistency at all in trying to find open spots of the field to get any runs in. We got them on, and we got them over, but we just couldn't get them in, unfortunately. Talking with another Paints fan during this game, I was talking about the possibility of tweaking the lineup for future games, because right now something doesn't seem to be clicking at all with the Paints. I wouldn't call it nervousness, but I would call some of the things that's going on a slight lack of focus. You just have to gather yourself and let things come to you instead of forcing yourself to get to those things. Just relax and have fun. That's all you have to do, in all honesty.

One more thing to note here...

The Springfield Sliders arrived at the ballpark wearing black uniforms on a day that was pretty hot. I was wondering if that was such a wise idea knowing that you have a dark color on with the sun and heat beating down on you while you're trying to play a baseball game. In my opinion, I thought that might have backfired on the Sliders somehow, but to their credit, the black uniforms didn't bother them one bit, as they held down the home team fairly well. I also think it's odd that Springfield's colors include green and yellow, and yet I see black out there on the field. Oh well, that's just another quirk of the game.

Knights Blaze Through Paints

North Coast 13, Chillicothe 5

Sometimes, you just know it when you see it. Things got pretty ugly in a hurry for the home team as the Paints lost another one to the visiting North Coast Knights by a score of 13-5 on Tuesday. Just like the previous game, things just got out of hand, and when they saw their opportunities to grab control of the game, the Knights took every opportunity they saw. This was a bit of a hard one to see as the Paints weren't playing so well, especially with the gloves.

One vivid reminder would be a routine ground ball that went right through second baseman Kyle Gendron's legs, but to be fair, that wasn't the only mistake made by the defense. Everyone was having another off night, and as the game wore on, it just wasn't getting any better. Unlike the previous game though, all it took here was the third inning for things to start crumbling. A 6 run third inning accompanied by a 4 run fourth inning ended being a huge difference maker in this game, and the Knights did what they had to do to make their attempts successful.

To form an interesting analogy about this game, I'd have to say that the weather before the game was pretty hot once again, and the opposing team's bats were even hotter. The Knights blazed a trail, and marched valliantly past the Paints' pitching staff and defense to capture the victory. Okay, so maybe I'm not the best when it comes to making interesting and entertaining analogies, but it was worth a try.

Stephen Shackleford made the start for the Paints, and things went south quickly, unfortunately. He put in 3 innings of work in his start, and gave up a total of 7 runs to opposing batters. he gave up 7 hits and a walk to the Knights. He managed to strike out three batters, but in comparison, they pale to the likes of the 7 runs given up, and that's the thing that made him have a quick start. Oddly enough, I recall the huge Knights rally in the third inning starting solely on a throwing error by catcher Kris McDonough to first base on a chopper.

Eric Heckaman pitched four innings of relief, but he didn't fare much better on the mound. He gave up the 4 runs in the fourth inning, and gave up 5 hits and a walk in total. He struck out only one batter. Tony Davey and Krist Linster would see some action on the mound for the rest of the game. To sum up the problems that were experienced here, I think you'd have to look no further than the shaky defense that was behind the pitchers for this one. Most of the offense made by the Knights came off of blunders made by the Paints' defense.

Kyle Galbraith had a single. First baseman Cory Maguire had an RBI single and a triple. DH Andrew Marshall had an RBI single and a double. Right fielder Eian Banks had a single. Catcher Kris McDonough didn't have a hit, but he had an RBI for this game. During Kyle Gendron's at-bat, two runs scored off the only error that the Knights made all game long, a ball that got past the shortstop that looked pretty routine. Gendron would get in a single.

Overall, this game wasn't played really well. It's sad to say that, but it's true. These things happen, and in baseball, cycles of this do occur, but you gotta prepare for it when you start slumping or when you feel like a slump is one the horizon. You can't get yourself worked up and you can't add pressure to the situation or else that will cause things to get even more out of control. All a team can do in this situation is to just ride out the storm, and stay relaxed. Continue to have fun out there on the field, dig deep, think about your heart and soul, and eventually, you'll climb your way out of the hole that you created.

I had the time to talk to some of the players briefly before the game, and I asked one player what he thought about the other ballparks that are in the Prospect League. I won't hold anything back when I report this response, but this player said some of the ballparks are okay, and some are, and I'm only quoting, "crappy." Of course, he said that V.A. Memorial Stadium is most likely the best ballpark in the Prospect League, and judging by the looks of the ballparks myself, I have to humbly agree.

Another one of those off nights

North Coast 7, Chillicothe 1

Well, if you take a look at the score above, then you would know that this game got out of hand pretty quickly, and it also didn't help that the pace of the game was not so smooth, but rather it was dragging on for a bit too long. This game was just one of those peculiar nights for the home team. Nothing really seemed to get going for the Paints. Both the hitting and the pitching were not up to par for the Paints. The North Coast Knights just continued to put on the pressure, and the runs kept coming in for them, while the Paints were having a rough time getting those timely hits in.

Kyle Galbraith had a single. Andrew Marshall had two singles. Eian Banks also had two singles. Kyle Gendron had the best hitting performance for the Paints in this game, as he had three hits on the night. Gendron had two singles, a double, and a stolen base. Center fielder Steven Mirizzi had a pretty odd day, and by all means, I'm putting that lightly. Steven got hit twice before actually legging out an infield single. Mirizzi got hit on the back in his first at-bat, and then in his second at-bat, he got hit right in the helmet by a pitch. I know they say that when you get hit by pitches, "you're taking one for the team", but I'm sure that it was rather odd seeing Mirizzi become such a big target for those two hit by pitches. Mirizzi, of course, is doing just fine. That's all a part of the game.

Tim Krofcheck had two singles to round out the offense, but again, the Paints weren't getting the timely hits in. They were not stringing in hits like they have been earlier. Chalk this game up as just another off day for the team. These things just happen, so just prepare for it when it feels like it's gonna be a roller coaster style of baseball game.

For the pitching, this was an off day for them as well. Rex Ingham made the start for the Paints, and in his start, he was a bit shaky. Even though he did go 6 innings deep in his start in front of a decent sized crowd on hand to watch, he gave up three hits, a walk, and two runs. He struck out two batters.

Mark Williams came in relief of Ingham and put in 1 and 1/3 innings of work, giving up three runs on two hits and one walk allowed. He struck out a batter, but overall, this wasn't so good a game for him, as he left runners on base when Krist Linster came into the game. Linster faced a few batters and gave up a hit and plunked a batter. He would give up an earned run in the prcoess. Finally, Brad Schnitzer was the last pitcher to come in for the Paints, and unfortunately, it was just more of the same "Aw, shucks" kind of thing facing the North Coast Knights batters, who to their credit, did their jobs well in securing a big W for them.

As I mentioned at the start of this article, the pace of this game dragged on and on, and you could tell that good vibes weren't coming when the runs kept crossing the plate for the Knights. You have to consider that this happens in baseball. Baseball doesn't have a time limit, unlike the other sports, and you have less hints as to when the game might end. However, the pace of this game wasn't going so well for me. Pretty much during the game, I kinda had that feeling that the home team was having an off day. At the end of the day, everything will be okay. I'm yet to see any team in any baseball league, collegiate level and up, to go through an entire season undefeated and not go through any pressure or have any bumps in the road. We will have these kind of games from time to time. You win and you lose. It just happens.

I don't know why I feel this way, but I happen to believe that when Ben Allen plays, the team seems to get some type of boost when Allen is playing. True, he's not the biggest bopper in the lineup, and he may not even be the flashiest player in personality, but there's something to be said about the grit and determination that Ben Allen shows when he's on the field. There's something about him that I really like, and I hope he gets things going when it comes to his playing ability.

As for who did start at shortstop for the Paints in this game, I was still pretty impressed with Kyle Gendron. He's a gamer, and I appreciate what he does on the field. He's one of those guys who can really take off if he gets enough chances to do it. The thing is, he just hasn't been seeing the field a lot, but he will get playing time, and I know he will make the most of it. Maybe some re-shuffling in the lineup could help the Paints out? You never know what might happen if you try new things. You can go either way when you shuffle the lineup a bit.

Paints Bounce Back at McBride

Chillicothe 6, Richmond 2

After dropping a game that involved final inning heroics by Richmond's offense the previous night, the Chillicothe Paints managed to bounce back and win this second game at Don McBride Stadium. The Paints did just enough to get the victory. Scoring 6 runs happens to be a good number, after all. The most interesting thing to note here would be the added emphasis on the stolen base category. The Paints did a splendid job on the basepaths. In total, the Paints stole five bases in this game, and Richmond wasn't able to throw them out during any of those stolen base attempts.

Third baseman Kyle Galbraith had two of those stolen bases. He had a single for this game. Shortstop Ben Allen did not steal any bases, but he had a good day at the plate, as he got in three singles, with two of them being of the infield variety. Left Fielder Andy Brouse, who is leading the Paints in overall offense, had an RBI double in the seventh inning. First baseman Cory Maguire had another one of those stolen bases. He had two singles and got a pair of RBI's in all. Right fielder Eian Banks had an infield single. Center fielder Zach Frentsos had a single and a double. Steven Mirizzi came off the bench to pinch hit, and he had an RBI double in the eighth inning. Tim Krofcheck had the last two stolen bases, but oddly enough, he didn't get any hits. Still, he made a great impact in this game because of his distinctive speed on the basepaths.

Tim Bertucci made the start for the Paints. This game had an early start time of 2:35 PM, so this had to be a nice change of pace for both teams. As for Bertucci, the early start time seemed to fit him well as he went 4 and 1/3 innings deep in his start. He gave up two runs on seven hits allowed. He gave up a walk, and he got in two strikeouts. Blake Mascarello pitched 2 and 2/3 innings of relief, and he didn't have any runs charged to him. He gave up two hits and a walk, but he struck out three batters. Brad Schnitzer put in an inning of work and only gave up a walk. Chadd Steinborn pitched the last inning of the game, and only gave up a hit. He proceeded to strike out a batter and retire the side, denying any chance of deja vu happening.

This was just a well played game, in my opinion. I really did appreciate the aggressiveness that we showed on the basepaths. Tim Krofcheck is one speedy guy, and I really like the hustle he shows, and not to mention the motor he has. Tim may be the fastest baserunner on our team, but I can't be certain about that. I also want to note that Richmond shortstop Raymond Fuentes has been making an impact for his team lately. As mentioned by Andy Smittenkamp, Fuentes had the game winning hit the previous game, and it seems to me like he's another player who has great potential of busting loose one day. He has been a good find for their club, and that also reminds me that the more impactful players in the Prospect League have so far been shortstops.

Wild Twist of a Finish

Richmond 4, Chillicothe 3

The last time the Chillicothe Paints played a ballclub from Richmond was when both markets were still in the Frontier League. 2005 was the year, and Richmond was bowing out of the FL in that year, so it has been quite a while since the Paints organization has been to Richmond, Indiana. When I returned to Chillicothe for the home debut of the Prospect League Paints, I saw pretty much the same faces. I didn't see too many new faces at all. For diehard Roosters fans back in the day, this debut season in the Prospect League has been wonderful for them to reunite and get reacquainted with the settings of Don McBride Stadium, a ballpark that is still a classic ballpark in its own right.

Andy Smittenkamp and Tom Arnett are two Richmond baseball fans who I've gotten to know over the past year, and I know that they are excited about this new team playing. For those of you wondering, I recognize that I made a mistake in announcing the name of the team in Richmond. River Rats is two words, and not one. You know, sometimes that just happens with me, but it's okay. Some of the things that came along with the River Rats are interesting, such as their jersey style. The name font, the colors, and of course, the name itself make the River Rats' jerseys one of the most interesting looking jerseys in the Prospect League.

The first score of the ballgame came off the bat of River Rats catcher Tyler Bullock, who just happened to flat out demolish the pitch that he saw. Aside from Caleb King, Tyler Bullock looks to be another player who may be busting loose soon and becoming a true offensive threat in the Prospect League. I see that potential in him. I think he may be that kind of guy to do just the job. Now even though I always root for the Paints, whenever I see something that looks impressive from the other team, I can't help but take note of that and actually applaud on rare occasions.

To go into detail about this game, all you could say is that the Paints had this game well in hand, but final inning heroics by the opposing lineup got to the Paints in the end, and three runs crossed the plate to give the River Rats a great come from behind victory. That has happened a lot of times before in the long lasting rivalry between Richmond and Chillicothe, and it looks to be nothing new in the new versions of these teams. The Paints did a good job of pitching for most of this game, but again, the last inning just got to the pitching, and the bullpen wasn't in a good position to get any calls.

Starting pitcher Tony Davey did a pretty good job in this game for the Paints, as he pitched seven innings of work, giving up 7 hits and a walk, but he only gave up one run and struck out five batters. The only run he gave up was, of course, that monsterous shot made by Tyler Bullock. Krist Linster pitched one inning of relief for the Paints and did a good job as well, as he only gave up a walk. Eric Heckaman, on the other hand, was struggling on the mound in the ninth inning. He was wild throughout, and couldn't find that comfort spot to get the three outs that he needed. He gave up three walks and a hit, and along with the help of an error, the River Rats got their three runs to snatch the victory away.

For the offense, Kyle Galbraith started in center field and had a great day, getting three hits. He had two singles and a double. DH Brandon White had a bunt single. Zach Fresntsos came off the bench as a pinch hitter and had a single, a stolen base, and got an RBI off a sacrifice fly. Andy Brouse had an RBI double. Catcher Andrew Marshall had a single. Eian Banks had a single. Kyle Gendron had an RBI double. Ben Allen had two singles.

The Paints had plenty of hits in this game, and the offense got in what looked like to be enough runs, but crazy things just happen once in a while, and those crazy things happened here. You know that saying, "when you get kicked off of a horse, you gotta get back on and ride again."

Runs Coming In Bunches

Chillicothe 10, Richmond 1

Another game has been put into the books for the Paints of the Prospect League, and these Paints keep rolling along as we get closer to the dog days of the season. Everything came together pretty well in this game, and the Paints did a good job in every aspect of the game. The team looked solid throughout. They got the hits they needed. They got the pitches they needed. They got the defensive plays they needed. When you do just enough of everything in a ballgame, then chances are your team is going to win that ballgame. The Paints scored more than enough guys to get the victory here.

So how about those runs, you ask? Well, look no further than the very first inning of the game. The Chillicothe Paints scored 8 runs in the first inning alone, and only scored two more runs later on. You could say that the game was well in hand for the Paints right there after they got those 8 runs. The general mood of the crowd was great, especially for that 8 run rally, but after that, the mood died down alittle only because there wasn't much offense being scored in the other 7 innings for the offense. Rest assured though, the crowd was happy to see this result.

Clayton Schulz made the start for the Paints. In his start, he went 5 innings deep and gave up only one run on 3 hits and a walk allowed. He threw a wild pitch, but nothing was really hurting after that. He went on to strike out three batters. Blake Mascarello got into the game in relief and pitch two innings. He struck out one batter. Mark Williams came in and pitched an inning himself. He only threw a wild pitch, but kept the scoring at zero for the Riverrats. Chadd Steinborn pitched the last inning and only gave up a walk. He got the job done by retiring the Richmond batters one last time.

Those runs I talked about earlier came real quick, and maybe not in the blink of an eye, but you can believe that it was pretty close to that. The first batter of the game for the Paints was third baseman Kyle Galbraith, and he had two at-bats in the first inning. He had a single, a double, a stolen base, and he got an RBI. Left fielder Andy Brouse had a bunt single, a stolen base, and he also went deep for a two-run homerun in the eighth inning. Those were insurance runs tacked onto insurance runs, but really, that homerun by Brouse looked sharp.

DH Andrew Marshall had an infield RBI single. Center fielder Eian Banks had a pair of RBI's off a single. First baseman Matt Abro got an RBI off a fielder's choice. and managed to steal a base. Catcher Kris McDonough had a single. Overall, this was just another solid performance by the home team, and the Paints have showed quite a bit of what they're made of. They have a good foundation in place. In my opinion, I'm curious to know just how they stack up against the leader of the Western Division, the Quincy Gems. Unfortunately, we won't get to know the answer to that question for this regular season. So far, you have to say that the Chillicothe Paints are the only other team aside from the Quincy Gems who are making a considerable amount of noise.

I had the chance to talk to former Chillicothe Paints infielder Joe Spiers. He attended this ballgame, and I was glad to see him come back and visit. I asked him some questions, the basics like how he was doing and if he missed Chillicothe. Obviously, Joe misses Chillicothe. I know that Joe had a fun time playing here, and I truly appreciate what he did while he was here. Joe had to move on and play on another Frontier League team, and he ended up with the Washington Wild Things, and he was on their roster until recently. I could tell that he had a good time visiting. Whenever you get to this ballpark, you can tell that this is just a special place. It has that certain feeling and historical lure to it. I just want to say that Joe Spiers and others are more than welcome to visit the V.A. anytime they want. I'd love to sit down and chat with them again.

Busting Out The Big Lumber

Chillicothe 7, Richmond 2

What can you say about a day that was filled with emotions about honoring the troops and having a nearly packed crowd on hand at the V.A.? The answer is simple. Most likely, you'll end up seeing a game that has a different feel to it. When there's something else on the horizon that can pump you up, you allow that thing to pump you up and you get some more motivation. This day at the ballpark was a fun one, make no mistake at all. By now, the crowd in Ross County has gotten used to the fact that the Paints are playing in a college wooden bat league, and in fact, they enjoy watching that kind of baseball. The support that the Prospect League is getting, in my opinion, is becoming fascinating.

Let's talk about what the home team did for this game. On the mound for the Paints to make his first start for the game was a pitcher who I had no recollection of at all. He wasn't listed on the roster as I checked on the scorecard that I usually get for each game. I found out that the starting pitcher for Chillicothe was A.J. Achter, and this guy did an outstanding job in his debut as a member of the Southern Ohio Stampede. Achter pitched seven innings, and he looked really impressive throwing some good looking pitches, and those pitches really got to Richmond's batters. Achter recorded 8 strikeouts, and gave up two runs. The Riverrats got in hardly any hits against Achter.

Krist Linster, the sidearmer from the bullpen, came in relief and pitched the last two innings of the game. He gave up a walk and struck out a batter. Here's one thing that I would like to note. The Paints have done a solid job of keeping the amount of pitchers playing in a single game down to a reasonable number considering all of the games that have been played that were very close. The amount of pitchers that you have available in the bullpen does play into the strategy making aspect of the game at hand. Now under Prospect League rules, the pitchers are going to be held to a certain pitch count, so don't be surprised if new pitchers come in because of the high and limited pitch count.

The offense was there once again for the Paints, and even though they had a slow start in getting the runs in, they eventually did get enough runs to win the ballgame. The key here is to string the base hits that you make, and the Paints did a good job of busting out the big lumber to get the 7 runs in their win. Third baseman Kyle Galbraith went deep for a 2-run homerun in the third inning and came back to drive in two more runs on a double in the seventh inning. Galbraith had a fantastic game, getting 4 RBI's. Right fielder Eian Banks had a single and a triple. Matt Abro went deep for a solo homerun shot in the seventh inning. Center fielder Zach Frentsos got an RBI off a sacrifice fly. Tim Krofcheck had two singles, with one of them coming off a bunt.

This has been the third game against Richmond that the Chillicothe Paints have performed well. I can't quite put my fnger on it, but I'd have to say that the Paints feel comfortable whenever they play the Riverrats. That's big since you need to find your comfort spots against a team that plays in your own division. Thankfully for the Paints this year, the Eastern Division is the lighter division of the two as it has only five teams. One thing about divisional games would be this, they're always important in some shape or form. Last I checked, the Riverrats were in third place in the East in this still young season going into this game, so this was a good win to have.

Returning The Favor

Chillicothe 6, Slippery Rock 4

The Chillicothe Paints made their brief return to Jack Critchfield Park to face the Slippery Rock Sliders, the same team that has made the Paints run a little bumpy recently with the doubleheader sweep back at home at the V.A. on Sunday. The Sliders have made a good argument as to who might be the team to give the Paints a run for their money, (only analogy wise of course), in the Eastern Division this year in the Prospect League. In fact, if you take a look at the games between these two teams, the contests have been both very interesting and very competitive, with rallies being made by both clubs.

First of all, let's give credit to where that credit is due. I'm talking about the pretty respectable turnouts by the Slippery Rock faithful at the properly dubbed place for the ballpark, The Jack. For whatever reason, that reminds me of that famous fast food restaurant Jack In The Box, but I think that's a great nickname. The Sliders have done a marvelous job so far in getting people to come to the games. They have had almost no problem getting decent sized crowds to watch their games, and I have to commend them for their efforts. Case and point, let's go over Slippery Rock's campaign for only one year in the Frontier League. In 2007, crowds were just not coming to the ballpark, and why? That was because the team that played there was only a temporary team. The 2009 Slippery Rock Sliders of the Prospect League are a permanent fixture, and that should explain why the crowds are very much better.

Now that we have the interesting facts put away, then let's get on with the game at hand. Like all the other games that they have played so far this year, this game wasn't any different, as both the Paints and Sliders had strong showings in their efforts. Of course, only one team could get the win, and if you follow the Paints, then you can pump your fist a tad bit for this result. This game saw the debut of one pitcher for the Paints while a starting pitcher made his debut in relief. Eric Heckaman, who we know pretty well now, made his first relief appearance of the year. He put in one inning of work, the ninth inning, and sealed the deal for the Paints even though he gave up two hits, a walk, and a run.

Stephen Shackleford made the start for the Paints. He went 5 innings deep in his start, giving up a trio of walks, a pair of hits, and he threw a wild pitch that went solo. He gave up three runs in total and struck out three batters. Okay, so perhaps I'm bad at making these things sound remotely entertaining when I write all loosey goosey, but I figured that was catchy. Anyway, the pitching was good for the Paints, and the main thing is, the pitching was once again good enough to win. Giving up 4 runs can be managed, and it was managed quite well by the visiting team here. When you're faced with any pressure cooker situations, you have to dig deep and pitch your way through these jams. That's what these guys on the mound did for the Paints.

Now for the offense, they once again busted out complete explosion full of hits in a single game, but overall, it was only a two run margin that the Paints won by, lest we forget. The batters did a solid job of spreading out the 16 hits made in this game. You have to give credit to these young men because they certainly are doing a great job of seeing the ball and getting their bats on pitches to make something out of them. Stringing those hits together to drive in more runs is another thing, but here the fifth inning was really the only critical part of the game for Chillicothe's offense. Brandon White batted leadoff and was the DH. He had two singles and an RBI. Shortstop Ben Allen had an RBI single. Left fielder Andy Brouse had two singles and an RBI.

First baseman Cory Maguire had a single. Catcher Andrew Marshall had two singles. Third baseman Kyle Gendron had two singles and an RBI. Center fielder Steven Mirizzi had a single. Second baseman Tim Krofcheck had two singles. Right fielder Zach Frentsos had a great game. For the first time this year for the Paints, Zach saw the ball really well and got in some hits. He had three hits for this ballgame, and had a perfect percentage. He had two singles and an RBI double. Overall, this was the kind of game that the Paints needed because the Slippery Rock Sliders took it to the Paints on Sunday, and you could tell that those two games were bummers due to the off day fatigue and little execution, so this was a good game to bounce back on against a division rival.

The Paints will return home to the V.A. They will take on the Richmond Riverrats on Wednesday at 7:05 PM.

Wild One in Butler

Chillicothe 10, Butler 7

Venturing out to Pennsylvania once more, the Chillicothe Paints made their way to Butler, a city that's a bit north of Pittsburgh. They traveled to Pullman Park. The Pullman Park that many ballpark historians know isn't really present anymore, as there have been major rennovations made to the place for some time. FieldTurf has been installed on the grounds that have seen players like Joe DiMaggio and Mickey Mantle once play on. So while there's new surface on Butler's ballpark, baseball is still being played there, and you can be sure that the Prospect League is proud to have Butler, Pennsylvania as a member.

The Chillicothe Paints won their first game in the city of Butler on June 15th, 2009. Here, the Paints won doing everything they could to get as many runs crossing the plate. There were great plays made in this game by the Paints, and it was the type of game that saw many runs go by in a short span of time. The game featured a homerun hit by the Butler BlueSox and none hit by the Paints, but the visiting team didn't need any homers to pull away with the win here.

Rex Ingham of Ohio University made his first start for the Paints. He went 5 and 1/3 innings deep, giving up 5 hits, a walk, and 4 runs while throwing a wild pitch, but he managed to record 4 K's, looking fairly sharp even when he was under pressure by the opposing offense. He was pitching to his Bobcat battery mate Kris McDonough, who made the start back behind the plate. I suppose that they're teamwork together, communicating with each other helped a great deal because Ingham was pretty focused in this game in spite of the 4 runs given up.

Mark Williams came in relief of Ingham and put in 2 and 2/3 innings of work, giving up 3 hits with one of them being a solo homerun shot. Williams commited a balk but struck out a batter. He gave up 3 runs total. Chadd Steinborn pitched the final inning of the game, and did a good job of retiring the BlueSox side. Overall, I was impressed with the resiliency of our pitching. It wasn't perfect by any means, and that's to be expected in collegiate action, but when it comes to the traffic jams along the bases, our pitchers handled themselves well on the mound.

As for the offense, the Paints busted out 16 hits, which should be near a record for overall amount of hits for the Paints in a single game. Kyle Galbraith, making the start in center field, had an infield RBi single. Shortstop Ben Allen had two singles. Andy Brouse had a single and a triple. DH Andrew Marshall had a double and 3 RBI's overall. First baseman Cory Maguire went 3-for-4 in this game, hitting three singles and getting an RBI as well. Cory saw the ball pretty well in this game, as he was making solid contact with the ball. Matt Abro had a pinch hit single.

Eian Banks had two singles and a pair of RBI's. Kyle Gendron had a double and a stolen base. Kris McDonough had an infield single. Tim Krofcheck had a bunt infield single and a hit-and-run single while getting an RBI. The execution for the offense was just solid all around. The team didn't show off any power, but they got in so many base hits, and if you string many base hits together, then you would know that there's gonna be plenty of runs scored in that game. That's why I love small ball. I'm of the opinion that small ball makes a better impact, and it makes a louder statement in the game even though homeruns are fun to watch.

The Paints will do battle once again with the Slippey Rock Sliders as they travel back down to Jack Critchfield Park.

Double Trouble at Home

-Prospect League News-

Slippery Rock 2, Chillicothe 0 (Game 1)

Slippery Rock 3, Chillicothe 1 (Game 2)

Sometimes, the ball really doesn't bounce your way at all. It always happens eventually. For this doubleheader in front of the home crowd in Chillicothe, the Paints just couldn't get anything going. For the first time in quite a while, the Paints actually looked somewhat vulnerable when it comes to the setup of their approach. Two losses in one day against the then second place team Slippery Rock Sliders at your own backyard is something that wasn't drawn up by any means. This was an off day for the Paints, and the thing is, they just couldn't catch a break when they tried to get a rally going.

Ton Bertucci made the start for the first game of the doubleheader for the Paints. At first, he was doing just fine until later on in his outing as he was getting hit hard by the opposing offense, and not so much as in giving up a ton of runs, but more like a good string of methodically hit balls. Bertucci went 5 and 2/3 innings in his start, giving up two runs. One of them was a solo homerun shot past the left center field wall early on. He gave up 5 hits and one walk overall.

For the Sliders, Andrew Morris was doing a real solid job of pitching. Maybe I could use the phrase "He was sizzling" in this game, because for 3 and 2/3 innings of his start, Morris had a no hitter going. A great tip of the cap to Morris for his fantastic start. He did exactly what he had to do to give his team a lift after what they went through at their home ballpark two days before this day.

For relief, the Paints gave Blake Mascarello two separate appearances in this doubleheader. In the first game, Mascarello went 1 and 1/3 innings and only plunked a batter while striking out two batters. In the second game, he went 4 innings deep in relief, giving up only one hit and again, striking out two batters. Overall, this was quietly a good day for Blake Mascarello.

Now let's talk about the offense for the Paints.

The offense sputtered in both of the games, and there was no rythym established.

The Paints went down in order through the first three innings in the first game, while it felt more like an up and down roller coaster for the offense in the second game. Combining the two games, Kyle Galbraith had an RBI double. Andy Brouse had a single. Eian Banks had a double. Shortstop Ben Allen had a single for each game. Tim Krofcheck had a single. Zach Frentsos had a stolen base. The second game of the doubleheader saw the debut of Kris McDonough. McDonough is listed on the Paints roster as a catcher, but he was in the lineup as the DH.

Chalk this day up as an off day. That's what it was for the hometown team. If I could take note of anything that really looked interesting, then I would have to point out the solid defense played by shortstop Ben Allen. I saw quite a lot of hustle out of Allen when he was chraging after the ball to make plays. He was almost all over the middle infield. He had to go to work early because there were ground balls that kept going over to him. There's something about Ben Allen that I think I'm going to like. I'm beginning to notice the poise that Ben Allen brings to the club. He's just not the type who gets rattled easily, and I like that. Even though he batted ninth in the lineup for both games, he made the biggest impact in this off day.

Doing the little things to win

Chillicothe Paints 7, Slippery Rock Sliders 1

The Paints traveled on the bus from Lorain, Ohio to Slippery Rock, Pennsylvania to reach their next pit stop at Jack Critchfield Park. The home ballpark for the Slippery Rock Sliders is nicknamed "The Jack", and it's properly given by the broadcasting crew in Slippery Rock. Summing up this game, the Paints did a good job of just doing the little things to win the game. Of course, the offense capped off their run with something not so little, but throughout the game, the Paints constructed some good offense by way of base hits and bunts. There was a time in this game that the Paints went to small ball exclusively for a few batters, but it worked beautifully.

The offense once again did a good job of getting the runs in. They got in seven for this one, and so far, you can say that this team is a definitely a cohesive unit with the lumber. Kyle Galbraith, playing in center field and batting leadoff, had two singles and stole two bases. Third baseman Kyle Gendron got an RBI off a sacrifice fly in the seventh inning. Left fielder Andy Brouse had a good day at the plate, hitting a single, a double, and getting two RBI's. Catcher Andrew Marshall did a good job as well, hitting a double to start the fifth inning, and going deep in the ninth, belting a two-run homerun. First baseman Cory Maguire had an RBI single.

Right fielder Eian Banks had two doubles. DH Matt Abro had a single. Shortstop Ben Allen and second baseman Tim Krofcheck went back-to-back in the sixth inning putting down solid bunts that would get them to first base successfully. Laying down bunts are the best kind of little things that you can do to help your team. The objective you have in mind when laying down a bunt is to advance the runners further along, and if need be, score them on a suicide squeeze. Bunts help represent fundamental baseball, and I really love it when fundamental baseball is managed well in a game. Kudos have to go to the Southern Ohio Stampede (The Paints, who else?) for making the best out of doing the little things so far this season.

Now let's get to the hill, shall we?

Tony Davey, who also plays at Ohio Dominican University, made the start for the Paints in this game. He went 7 innings deep in his start, giving up seven hits and one run, but that's all that didn't go exactly as planned. Davey hung tough at The Jack and came up with three strikeouts to keep the Sliders at bay. Towards the end of his outing, I heard that Davey may have injured himself somehow, but he stayed in the game for at least a little longer until giving way to relief pitcher Mark Williams, who did a splendid job pitching the last two innings of the ballgame. Williams gave up a walk and struck out a batter. This was just another day at work, and yet having fun for the new Paints.

The last time that any Paints team saw Jack Critchfield Park was in the 2007 season, as the Sliders of that year were kinda like what the Ohio Valley Redcoats were in 2005; a traveling team that wouldn't be a permanent fixture in Butler County, Pennsylvania. However, these new Sliders who have made their debut in the Prospect League are going to be a permanent fixture in Slippery Rock from here on in. As I heard, there was a decent turnout at The Jack, so that was really good to hear.

For a startup league like this, you have to quietly root for every team in terms of support because the Prospect League looks to be a really promising college wooden bat league that the officials of the league claim will be the best college wooden bat league in the entire country. Thinking about that subject reminded me of the Northwoods League that are further northwest from here, so I should get into some sort of evaluation of the Northwoods League to show what the Prospect League is about basically.

The Paints will have to take another off day tomorrow and then will return home to V.A. Memorial Stadium to host the Slippery Rock Sliders in a doubleheader. The start time will be early, as the first game is scheduled to begin on Sunday 2:05 PM.

Paints win the 5-game stretch

Chillicothe 4, North Coast 1

In a span of about a week, the Chillicothe Paints and the North Coast Knights have played each other five times, and through the first four games of this stretch, the two teams were evenly matched, winning two games a piece. In this fifth game between the two Ohio ball clubs of the Prospect League, the Paints came out on top by winning at their brief return to the Pipe Yard in Lorain, Ohio. The flow of this game was simply solid, and it doesn't matter what level this is on, this was the type of game that anyone would enjoy.

For the Paints and the Knights, the pitching performances combined were pretty outstanding, to put it mildly. Both sides had things going on the mound for a great chunk of the game. Thankfully for baseball fans in southern Ohio, the pitching for the Paints was in rythym for a bit longer than the Knights. Credit that to starting pitcher Clayton Schulz. Schulz, who recently celebrated his 19th birthday on the 7th of June, was very stellar on the mound for the visitingt team. How stellar was he for this game? Schulz managed to pitch 5 innings of a no-hitter until having it broken up due to a play that probably should've been ruled an error, and not as a base hit.

Schulz did go through bumps in the road still. He pitched 8 innings deep in his start, giving up just one run on two hits allowed, giving up four walks and beaning two batters, which in reality was the same batter. Schulz couldn't avoid beaning Knights infielder Ethan Santora for whatever reason, but neither hit-by-pitch was intentional. Throw in just a wild pitch, and that's all that was off for Schulz, but again, he was as solid as you would want him to be for a start. He recorded three strikeouts.

On the other side, Knights pitcher Dillon Tabar did an equally impressive job coming in relief. Tabar would pitch 6 innings of relief, and he really did shut down the Paints offense. He did a great job of making things happen on the mound. He only gave up two hits while striking out two in the process. He didn't give up a single run, hence his effectiveness against Chillicothe's offense.

Another Knight of note would have to be shortstop Kirk Singer, who has been a splendid find for the northern Ohio club. So far, he has been quite amazing defensively at least, flashing the glove at the most important times in a ballgame. Tight defensive plays have been made by Singer, who is even impressing me, even though I'm a Paints fan. You gotta give credit to the guy. He's doing what he can to make plays, and he's progressing so far. You always have to tip your cap to hard workers, no matter what team they're on.

As for the scoring, the Knights only mustered one run, as mentioned before, against Schulz. Meanwhile, the Chillicothe Paints got to work immediately with the scoring of runs. Through the first run of the lineup already, they managed to get four doubles in. In the first inning, left fielder Cory Maguire and DH Andrew Marshall had back-to-back doubles to score the first run of the game. First baseman Matt Abro had a double. Catcher Brandon White had an RBI single. Tim Krofcheck had a double. Cory Maguire would have the only other hits the Paints, as he added two singles to his early double, resulting in an impressive three-hit game for him.

The Paints will travel to Slippery Rock, Pennsylvania to play a game at Jack Critchfield Park against the Sliders. Game time is at 7:05 PM.

I want to make a brief comment about the odd looking schedule that we have for this season. Since there are only 11 teams in the Prospect League's first season, that means the schedule has to be altered a bit to compliment the teams. I have wondered about the schedule going into thsi year knowing the landscape of the lague. Having an odd number of teams makes some things difficult, with the schedule being the main suspect of those problems. This is nothing to worry about, though. I have a hunch that the odd schedule will only be for this year that we have an oddball kind of schedule. For a league starting up, considering the circumstances, the Prospect League has done such a solid job, in reality.

Paints Win to Split Home Series

Chillicothe 4, North Coast 2

The Paints defeated the North Coast Knights to split the home series at one win a piece. The only thing that didn't look so good was the attendance at the ballpark, but we'll only have to give that some time. This game was well played out. It featured a good batch of interesting plays defensively, and the pitching was pretty good here, too.

Let's talk about the weather before this game. I was wondering if there would even be a game for this night because the rain was pouring real bad from where I was at. Thunderstorms pounded the Chillicothe area early on in the day, but it cleared up just in time for baseball to take place. Chillicothe is like that, in all honesty. You can't really tell with all of the swings in the weather, but hey, everything worked out, and Paints fans still got to see their team play, even though it got hot almost right away.

For the pitching, Stephen Shackleford made the start for the Paints. He pitched 5 innings deep, giving up 4 hits and 2 walks, and as a result giving up just a pair of runs. Mark Williams pitched in relief of Shackleford and did a solid job. He pitched 1 and 1/3 innings, giving up a walk, a hit, and he beaned a batter. The good thing is, he didn't give up any runs and held his own out on the mound. Krist Linster put in 1 and 2/3 innings himself, giving up just one hit and he did a good job of getting a runner out of position and taking him off the basepaths.

Chadd Steinborn was a little bit wild in the ninth inning, as he made things interesting, giving up a hit and two walks, but he got a strikeout and he didn't give up any runs in the bases loaded rally that the Knights produced.

The defense is something that I really want to note here. The defense for the Paints was clicking on almost all cylinders here. The defense was simply superb at some points. I can also point out a great defensive play by the Paints in the eighth inning that involved a Knights batter going for third base after he got a hit. The center fielder made a relay throw to the shortstop, and then the next throw came to the third baseman, getting the Knights batter out.

The offense did a great job of getting the runs in. They got in just enough runs to get the win. Kyle Galbraith had a double. Andy Brouse had two singles, but the biggest thing here was that he became the first Prospect League Paint to hit a homerun, so that's something for the Paints faithful to chalk up in the record books. Brouse drove in two runs with that homer to the left field scoreboard.

First baseman Cory Maguire had a triple and an infield single. Kyle Gendron had two singles and an RBI. Eian Banks came off the bench for the Paints and filled in as a pinch hitter. In two plate appearances, Banks had two singles and an RBI. Catcher Brandon White got an RBi off a sacrifice bunt. The bunting was pretty good for this game considering that the new Paints are getting used to the bunting aspect of the game once again. The metal bats don't give you much leverage in bunting, but you can have a much better time bunting with the wooden bats. I noticed that DH Andrew Marshall used a bat that was painted in green. I have never seen a green colored bat before, so that was interesting to see.

This was just another well played game in a season that is getting under way. I am hoping the attendance just had an off night because there was a promotion on hand to have students from surrounding schools get into the ballpark for free. It was kinda disappointing to see the turnout here, but overall, you gotta relax and give things time. The Paints players are having fun out there, and it really is showing. I like how head coach Brian Mannino is just letting the young guys play. That's what you should do. I would like to chat with coach Mannino if I can get the chance. We'll see about that, and I'll let you know what happens there. Anyway, the Paints will be gone for four days, with two off days and two road games ahead of them now.

Knights Pull Away Late

-Prospect League news-
North Coast 9, Chillicothe 3

Returning to the friendly confines of V.A. Memorial Stadium after their first road trip of the year, the Paints were in a tough battle against the now visiting North Coast Knights, a ball club that has gotten their first two wins in franchise history against the young men of Southern Ohio. To basicall describe the way this game went would be something like this; the game was close for a little while until the Knights pulled away in the later innings, and the Paints weren't able to respond to the North Coast offense.

Eric Heckaman made his first start as a Paint in this game. He went 4+ innings deep, giving up 4 runs off of three hits, two walks and by throwing two wild picthes in the process. Heckaman's outing shouldn't fool you all that much because he was hanging in there in tight situations until the very end of at bats. The game just got out of hand, and those things will happen to a starting pitcher when it's pretty early in the season. Consider that the Prospect League is a whole different animal than the Frontier League at least when it comes to rules and unwritten rules. Players need to get the work in because they are still collegiate athletes and any time out on the field is valuable for them.

Blake Mascarello was the only other pitcher who took the mound for the Paints, and he pitched the other five innings of this game. He gave up 5 runs off of four hits and he beaned a batter to boot. Still, he put on an otherwise good performance as he did record 6 K's. You can just say that this was an off night for the pitching. All you can do is shrug it off and move on. These nights will happen, so just prepare for it when it does become an off night. Work your way through all of the traffic jams in a ballgame and everything will play itself out in due time. One thing to note, I was impressed with the crowd as they applauded Heckaman as he walked off the mound. That's solid support for your own player.

The offense for the Paints did keep the team in the game for some time until things just slowly halted. Third baseman Kyle Galbraith had a single. First baseman Cory Maguire had an RBI double and got another RBI off a sacrifice fly. Andy Brouse had two doubles. Kyle Gendron had a triple. Zach Frentsos came in as a pinch hitter and got a stolen base that was uncontested. Right fielder Eian Banks had a single, but there was this one occasion where Banks got hit right on his helmet by a pitch that zoomed right into him. Don't worry, though. Eian Banks was just fine.

To sum up the offense, we scored three runs, which is a good number to have in runs for baseball, but 3 never beats 9. Oh well, I guess manager Joe Maddon of the Tampa Bay Rays can use that for part of his humorous pep rallies via math equations. That also describes how I felt about this game. I was having a fun time. The atmosphere was good at the ballpark. Even though it may have been a bit too hot early in the game, it cooled down, and it became more satisfying. I enjoyed myself, just like I always have been since my first Paints game in late 2005.

I have to give a quick tip of the cap to North Coast Knights starting pitcher Michael Fahs for what I believe was a brilliant performance. It wasn't perfect, of course, but it was methodically well played. Fahs pitched 6 and 2/3 innings deep in his start, giving up 3 runs and 5 hits, but struck out a batter and, most importantly, kept his team in the game.

At the ballpark today, I managed to talk to a few Paints players for the first time this year. I talked to Blake Mascarello, Kyle Gendron, and Steven Mirizzi. Those guys were nice, as were the rest of the team. The new Paints are a bunch of nice guys who I think I can relate too at least a little bit because they're closer to my age. You won't have any problems talking to these guys. I encourage you to chat with them because they have great personalities. I just introduced myself to the three listed players, but I plan on talking to them some more and to the other guys. It comes easy for someone like me because I think they may like some of the things that I like.

The Paints will play the Knights once again for the second game of the two game set.

Paints Split Series

Chillicothe Paints 6, North Coast Knights 1

The second game at the Pipe Yard in Lorain, Ohio was played well by the visiting team. The Chillicothe Paints executed some big plays when they had to and they put up enough runs on the scoreboard to get them the victory. Of course, you gotta score runs, and if you score six runs, then you have a good chance of winning ballgames. You talk about any bumps in the road going into this game, and you could point out the fact that the Paints entered this game with a short-handed supply of pitching, and that was because of some pressing injury issues.

Tony Bertucci, who also plays at Cornell University, made the start for the Paints. He pitched a good game, going 5 2/3 innings deep in his start, and in that time he gave up five hits, a walk, and a run, but he recorded five strikeouts, and most importantly, limited the damage that the North Coast Knights could muster. Bertucci had many things going for him in this game. He was prepared to do his job, and he did his job very well. Whenever he did get into trouble with Knights runners on the basepaths, he found a way out of the tricky situations.

Mark Williams was available to pitch for the Paints, and he also had a good game on the mound, as he pitched a pair of innings in relief and was solid. He only gave up one hit. He struck out a batter and gave up no runs. The only pitcher who was kinda wild on the mound for the Paints was Chadd Steinborn, as he pitched 1 and 1/3 innings of relief. He only gave up a walk and a hit, but made sure to keep the opposing offense at bay by striking out a batter and just getting guys out. The pitching did a good job overall. There's nothing of concern. This was just another day at work here.

For the offense, the fire power was mostly featured in the explosive fifth inning for the Paints. Tim Krofcheck had a single. Klye Galbraith had an RBI single. Matt Abro, who also plays at Western Michigan University, had a single, a double, and got an RBI off a sacrifice. Eian Banks had a single. Brandon White, who has double duty as a catcher and as an outfielder, started this game in center field, and he had two singles, with one of them breaking open the game for his team. His second single in the fifth inning drove in two runs. The Paints offense adjusted well to the natural grass surface of the Pipe Yard. There was nothing worth of big note on the baserunning or hitting approaches. Things just seemed to click for the team in this game.

It's always good to get a win on the road. All teams have to do when they go away from their home ballpark is to adjust. You have to make numerous adjustments through the baseball season. You make tweaks here and tweaks there just to get thinsg right. The new Paints are getting used to swinging wooden bats, for example. It will take time, but overall, these guys will be just fine. I also want to note that Paints manager Brian Mannino got somewhat steamed at the umpiring during a bases loaded rally by the Paints. There was a play that resulted in a double play due to the fact that the batted ball hit the runner on first base. Of course, that had to sting, but then again, the Paints still ended up getting their runs, and six was plenty to get this win.

The Chillicothe Paints will return to their home ballpark, at V.A. Memorial Stadium, to face these same North Coast Knights for a two game set. This is the Paints blog correspondent, Steven Vitte, reporting and wishing for you to be there!

Going To The Pipe Yard

North Coast 3, Chillicothe 2

This was the first game on the road for the newest edition of the Chillicothe Paints, but the desired result for this game wasn't achieved. Remember that saying "Don't worry! We'll get them next time!" because that applies here. Like everything else going into this season, the new Paints are going through a learning curve, and they're just getting used to the Prospect League. You try to establish a comfort zone for yourself when you're just starting out. This third game of the year was a special game in one aspect. The one special thing has to do with the state of Ohio.

In the entire history of Paints baseball, the Paints used to travel out to places all throughout Ohio in the early years, such as going to Newark, Portsmouth, Zanesville, and Canton. Of course over time, the Paints quickly became the only team left in Ohio in their respective league back in the day. However, let's jump to the present day and say that this was the first time in a long time that the Paints have actually played a team permanently based in the state of Ohio since playing the Canton Coyotes in 2003. Count the years up, and that equates to almost 6 years.

On the mound, Tony Davey made the start for the Paints. He went eight innings deep, and he pitched quite well considering the situation, giving up 3 runs, but not all of them were earned. Davey of Ohio Dominican University, gave up three hits, a walk, and commited an error. It wasn't so much because of Davey's pitching, but rather the unfortunate miscues made by the defense around him. You just have to shrug it off and keep going. The Paints' defense commited three errors in this game playing on a natural grass surface.

For the offense, the only run that crossed home plate for the Paints came off a wild pitch deep in the ninth inning, but by then, time was running a bit thin. The only hits made by the Paints came from Kyle Gendron, Steven Mirizzi, and Eian Banks. One other hit was added. Banks had a two-bagger. Overall, it was pretty tough to muster up offense facing the tall Jacob Helvey, who stood 6 foot 7 on the mound. Interestingly enough though, Helvey relied more on his off speed stuff than he did with his fastball pitches. In a few innings, Helvey made quick work of Chillicothe batters.

This game marked the first ever win by the North Coast Knights franchise, as they entered this game with an 0-2 record, but now they have a 1-2 record. This game marked the first ever loss by the Prospect League Paints, who now stand at 2-1. There's always a funny feeling about leaving your home ballpark. That's an adjustment that teams will make through the course of the year. Just get used to your surroundings and make the best out of what you have. Be a competitor out on the field and hope for the best. Speaking of funny feelings, I get that way too with the Paints. It's odd to go any stretch of time without seeing them play at home.

Checking on pictures of the ballpark in Lorain, Ohio, I have to say that the place has definitely improved since the last time I saw it. Just as recently as 2005, there was hardly anything at all with the ballpark in Lorain because there wasn't even official seating, but now it looks like a ballpark, and the reviews by some people are very much encouraging. The Pipe Yard fits the Prospect League, and I believe it will do a great service for this league. The Pipe Yard was originally intended to go after minor league baseball, but alas, those plans never got going. In comparison, they haven't had any problems with collegiate ball because they have hosted the Cleveland State baseball team in recent times.

Easy going at the ballpark

Chillicothe 6, Richmond 4

The very second game of the Chillicothe Paints' first Prospect League season resulted in another victory, and pretty much like the first game of the season, this one was an easy going for the home team. The atmosphere was laid back, cool, and casual. The game was entertaining to watch, and the rythym and pace to it was really good. It's just a tad little adjustment period for Paints fans who just need to get to know the new guys in the Paints uniforms. I am yet to speak with one of them, but I am sure to do just that later on as the season progresses.

The scoreboard would indicate that the game featured plenty of offensive plays and some defensive mistakes, but hey, these kids have already shown that they're willing to play hard for their respective teams. They'll do whatever they can to improve as players. I appreciate the respect that these kids have for the game of baseball. Of course, I myself am just a kid watching the game and taking notes of what I saw. It's somewhat of an odd experience watching players who you know are around your age range, but it's nothing that I can't get used to. In fact, I already have adjusted to that aspect of this year's club.

Let's start with the pitching performance from the Chillicothe Paints. Stephen Shackleford made the start for the Paints. Shackleford, of Savannah College, went 3 1/3 innings deep in his start, giving up two runs on six hits while walking four batters, beaning two batters and throwing a wild pitch. Blake Mascarello put in 3 and 2/3 innings of work, giving up two runs on four hits while also giving up a walk and beaning a batter. He recorded three strikeouts. Sidearm pitcher Krist Linster went one inning giving up just one hit. Chadd Steinborn finished the game on the mound for the Paints, pitching the ninth inning and striking out a batter.

Now for the offense, second baseman Tim Krofcheck, of Toledo University, got an RBI off a sacrifice fly. Shortstop Ben Allen got a base hit off a bunt and got a stolen base. Designated Hitters Cory Maguire got an RBi off a sacrifice fly. Left Fielder Andy Brouse had an infield base hit. Third baseman Kyle Gendron did commit the only error for the Paints in this game, but he made good off the bat, driving in two runs on a single. First baseman Matt Abro had an infield base hit. Right Fielder Eian Banks had a 2-RBI base hit in the third inning and hit a double in the sixth inning. Catcher Brandon White, of Akron University, had a base hit and a stolen base.

The Richmond Riverrats put up a good fight in this easy going game, though. They did have a 2-0 lead early in the game before giving up that lead later in a big 5-run rally made by the Paints in the third inning. Usually when you lose to a team the first time, you become more prepared when you face them the second time because you start getting ideas on how the other team will play and therefore you'll get ready to play them when that next game comes around. One player on the Riverrats who has already caught my eye is outfielder Caleb King, who is part of Olivet Nazarene University. King is off to a good start for Richmond, and his style of play is interesting.

A good tip of the cap goes to the Richmond baseball fans, who will be returning to the V.A. from now on. It seems pretty likely that Paints fans and Riverrats fans will get to enjoy themselves again in the same ballpark and in the same baseball league. Two former Frontier League members who have established great connections in their communities have been reunited in a college wooden bat league. Past games between these two markets have resulted in a heavy rivalry, but nowadays, it's simply for the fun of baseball. At least, that's the way I see it because I really enjoy having Richmond fans come over. I always enjoy the company of fans who are as enthusiastic about the game of baseball as I am.

The Paints now hit the road for a brief two game road trip to Lorain, Ohio to meet the Northcoast Knights.

The start of something new

Chillicothe Paints 13, Richmond Riverrats 2

Overall, I couldn't really come up with a catchy name to the title of this article, but this one will do. The night of June 4, 2009 marked the beginning of something new for baseball fans in Chillicothe, but if you really think about it, the only things that are new are the things that's on paper. It felt great to return to the friendly FieldTurf confines of V.A. Memorial Stadium. Truth be told, I always feel like I miss that place one way or the other during the offseason. The V.A. has done such a good service for amateur baseball before the arrival of the Prospect League, and there's no doubt in my mind that the V.A. will serve the Prospect League well, too.

A good crowd was on hand to see the newest edition of the Chillicothe Paints take the field, the team that will come to play for the 2009 season. The roster is filled with kids who are looking to move up in the baseball world, and they still have college elligibility. The Prospect League will feature the best collegiate athletes there are in the country. This is a college wooden bat league, but this is still the same fun and entertaining game of baseball that we're talking about. The place was energetic for this game. A great deal of enthusiasm was built for this night. You could tell the Chillicothe faithful were into this first game of the Prospect League season.

What about the game? Surely, the game was fun to watch. This was a very solid way for the new Paints to make their debut. Everything seemed to click in this one. The guys were focused in their approach to hit the ball, and likewise, the pitching was pretty superb. Clayton Schultz, out of North Florida University, pitched a good game. He went five innings deep for his first start of the season as a Paint, and he ended up only surrendering three hits, and he hit three batters. He didn't give up a run and struck out three batters.

Here's a funny thing that I want to point out, just to get out of the way. For me, I was born in 1989. Clayton Schulz was born in 1990, so that means that I am almost a year older than Schulz. Keep in mind that he has the makings of a potential stud way down the road. His stuff for this game was really effective, and it showed when he pitched against the Riverrats' lineup. He had a good gameplan, and he executed it well. Being out there on the mound for the first time of the year will always get starting pitchers pumped in some way. That's the joy of the dawn of a new year. New beginnings. Clean slates. Different twists to your own personal stories.

For the offense, the bats went to work almost right away. The runs came across the plate, and there were more than plenty to win this debut game. Tim Krofcheck batted leadoff and had three base hits and an RBI. Ben Allen had two hits and an RBI. Kyle Galbriath had two hits. Andrew Marshall had three hits, and one of them was a double. He had three RBI's to go along with those hits. Andy Brouse had a hit and an RBI. Matt Abro had a single, a double, and an RBI. Eian Banks had a hit and an RBI. Steven Mirizzi had three hits and two RBI's.

The whole setting just felt pretty laid back for this game. This was the start of something new, but only on the surface. Only on paper can you really say that. To be honest, I really didn't feel much difference between this style and the style that the Frontier League plays. If anything, one fan and friend of mine puts it into great perspective. The Prospect League is just like the Frontier League when it started out, in its first five years, so if you think about it some more, this isn't really new territory for the Paints organization. I still had the fun that came along with every game in the past few seasons. It was still there, as I enjoyed myself a great deal. Besides, that's all baseball fans really need. They just need to have fun, right?

The last highlight I want to mention is the fact that the car I rode in to the ballpark got creamed by a foul ball at some point. The windshield was smashed and it featured numerous cracks. It got hit pretty good, but I guess that's the risk you take when you just happen to park very close to the ballpark. Ah, the good old feelings of going to the old ballgame are coming back again!