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.