Paints are unable to overcome the stacked deck against them against the Mill Rats

Chillicothe Paint Tim Orr swinging against the Johnstown Mill Rats.

CHILLICOTHE — Marred by adversity the Chillicothe Paints entered Thursday night’s game against the Johnstown Mill Rats at a disadvantage.

Their leading hitter, Jeron Williams, and their field manager, Jackson White, were suspended for the outing after a confrontation with an umpire during Tuesday’s road game against the Champion City Kings.

That meant that the team’s hitting coach, Michael Morissette was tasked with taking over in White’s stead which he said that he was prepared for.

“Not much changed,” Morissette said. “Coming off of an off-day, everything was pretty much already set in stone in terms of who was going to hit and who was going to pitch and when. It really just came down to us not being able to score runs.”

While he and his team managed to keep the game close all night, the Mill Rats still notched their first win against the Paints of the season, 5-3.

A large reason for their success was that the Paints had a rather quiet offensive night, which has been the trend in recent outings.

That did not seem like it would have been the case early on though, as they scored two runs in the bottom of the second inning.

Those runs came after an RBI single by Johnstown’s JD Greeley in the top of the inning.

In response, the Paints had three straight hits in their return to the plate, which included an RBI single by Mike Sprockett.

Then their next batter, Brett Hilsheimer grounded into a double play, but not before Nate Dorinsky made his way home to give his team the 2-1 lead.

That lead did not last long as the Mill Rats scored back-to-back runs while the Paints were held scoreless until the eighth inning.

“Baseball is a game that revolves around failure,” Morissette said. “But it is all about how we handle it. I was proud of the way that everyone kept their heads up and had some of their best at-bats late in the game, that is all that you can ask for.”

Momentum began to shift in favor of Chillicothe after their leadoff batter, Santrel Farmer hit a solo home run over the center-field fence to tie the game at three.

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Breaking out of his own individual slump, Farmer said that maintaining a positive attitude was the key.

“At my last at-bat before that, I hit a ball into centerfield pretty hard, but it was caught,” Farmer said. “My teammates just told me to do the same thing next time and gave me a lot of positive input, which put some good things in my head. So, at my next at-bat, I was fortunate enough to get the ball over the fence.”

Entering the ninth inning and hoping to give themselves a chance, they brought in their closer, Cruz McFadden to hopefully shut out the Mill Rats.

Instead, Johnstown seemed more than ready for the challenge.

To lead off the inning, Asher Corl hit a double. Then, he was brought home after an RBI double by Pete Capobianco.

Then after an error by the Paints, their pinch-runner DJ Alexander made his way home to give his team a two-run lead.

Now with their backs against the wall as the game reached the bottom of the ninth inning, the Paints needed a big play to keep their hopes of winning alive.

Two quick groundouts made the task a lot tougher, but undeterred, Sprockett hit a single to breathe some life into his team.

That showed when Hilsheimer got back up to bat and hit a double.

Hoping to score off the hit, Sprockett made his way home, but after a photo-finish catch by the Mill Rats’ catcher, the umpire called Sprockett out, a call that was met with a lot of controversy and sent the home fans into an uproar.

However, Farmer said that he and the team could not dwell on the call and had to focus on how they could be better for their next game.

“It’s baseball,” Farmer said. “Calls aren’t always going to go our way, so we are fine. I am not worried about our team at all.”

This article originally appeared on Chillicothe Gazette: The Mill Rats and adversity tag team to take the Paints at home