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.