Paints Done In By Walks, Lose 14-4 In Lafayette

LAFAYETTE, Ind. - The Chillicothe Paints, presented by CohenOrthopedic, opened their first-game road trip with an eight-inning 14-4 loss to the Aviators in Lafayette Wednesday night with 15 walks too much to overcome.

Lafayette (1-1, 17-11)  got on the board in the bottom of the first, a leadoff walk came around to score.

The Aviators scored four more in the bottom of the second inning. After three walks loaded the bases, Jacob Walker doubled home two, Cameron Nagel brought home another on a sacrifice fly and Evan Liddie drove home a run with a two-out single, making it a 5-0 lead on just two hits.

Cole Kwiatkowski put the Paints (0-1, 22-10) on the board with an RBI single, scoring Owen Wilson and cutting it to a 5-1 ballgame in the top of the third.

Three more walks loaded the bases for the Aviators in the bottom of the third, Walker drove home two with a single and Nagel doubled, driving home two more, making it 7-1.

Sammy Stoner hit a two-out, two-run single in the top of the fourth, cutting the deficit to 7-3.

After a single and a walk to start the bottom of the fifth, the Paints turned their Prospect League-leading 30th double play of the season, but Mikey Scott followed with a two-run home run, making it 9-3.

Chillicothe got its final run in the top of the sixth, scoring on an odd play that included a Kwiatkowski RBI fielder's choice, bringing the Paints to with five at 9-4.

After a groundout to start the inning, Lafayette got a couple runners on on in the bottom of the eighth inning via a hit batter and a walk. A wild pitch moved the runners to second and third and, after a strikeout for the second out, both scored on a single from Brooks Sailors. Sailors scored the game-ending run on a single to left field by Nagel, putting the Aviators of 14-4.

Of the 14 Lafayette runs, nine scored after reaching base as a result of a walk or hit by pitch.

Luke Walter (1-2) took the loss for Chillicothe, giving up five runs, four earned, on two hits and five walks over 1 2/3 innings. Mikey Olivieri surrendered four runs on two hits and three walks over 1 2/3 innings. AJ Clegg threw two innings, allowing two runs on three hits, walking four and striking out one. Bryson Brown worked two scoreless innings before running into trouble in the eighth, finishing the night with three runs allowed on two hits, while walking threem hitting one and striking out five.

Coley Stevens (3-0) took the win for Chillicothe, allowing three runs on five hits, walking two and striking out four over five innings. Caiden Bennett gave up a run on three hits over two innings and Joey Wilmoth allowed a hit in a scoreless eighth.