Paints Hold Off Miners, Win Sixth Straight

BECKLEY, W.Va. - The Chillicothe Paints, presented by Adena Health System, saw their 6-0 lead vanish late in Tuesday night's game agianst the West Virginia Miners in Beckley, but a run in the ninth pushed the Paints to their sixth consecutive win, 9-8.

Chillicothe (9-3) starter Jack Sokol made his Paints debut, not allowing a run to score over four innings, while surrendering just two hits and striking out six. That effort allowed the Paints' offense to get to work.

Tim Orr led off the second with a walk, advancing to third on a single by Mike Sprockett and scoring the first run of the game on a single by Kade Wroot.

The Paints made it 6-0 with a five-run fifth. Cameron Bowen started the inning with a walk and, after a single by Santrel Farmer and a bunt single by Jeron Williams to load the bases, scored on a sacrifice fly by Ben Gbur. Orr followed with a single, driving home Farmer and Williams. Nate Dorinsky tripled off the wall in left, scoring Orr from first. Dorinsky scored on a sacrifice fly by Sprockett. The big lead was short lived, though. 

Todd Bangtson took over on the mound in the bottom of the fifth, allowing four runs on five hits by the Miners, cutting the Chillicothe lead to 6-5.

Williams led off the seventh with an infield hit, later scoring on a groundout by Orr, putting the Paints back up by two at 7-5. They made it 8-5 when Sprockett, who led off the inning with a walk, scored on a sacrifice fly by Brett Hilsheimer. 

In the bottom of the eighth, West Virginia's Eddie León hit a two-out, three-run home run off Chillicothe reliever Seth Evans, tying the game at 8-8.

In the ninth, Farmer reached on a leadoff walk, advancing to second on a sacrifice bunt by Williams. With two outs, Farmer broke for third, scoring from second on a ground ball by Orr, beating a throw to the plate, giving Chillicothe the lead back at 9-8, the eventiual final.

Noah Kandel (1-0) pitched the final 1 1/3 innings for the Paints, including a perfect ninth to secure his fist win of the year and the sixth in a row for the Paints.

Chillicothe wraps up the two-game set with the Miners in Beckley Wednesday night at 6:35 p.m. The Paints return home to VA Memorial Stadium for six games over five days beginning Thursday.