Newbert’s three hits aren’t enough to defeat West Virginia
By Riley Holsinger
For The Johnstown Mill Rats
Heading into Sunday, the home team in the matchup between the Johnstown Mill Rats (7-20) and West Virginia Miners (14-12) won every matchup. The script finally flipped today as the Miners defeated the hosting Mill Rats 11-6.
Sammy Tortorella trotted on the mound as the starting pitcher for Johnstown. Tortorella had a shaky start to the game giving up runs in the first four innings he pitched. Tortorella generated six strikeouts in 4 1/3 innings, which included multiple strikeouts in the first and third innings.
“The heat was definitely a factor today,” Mill Rats Manager Parker Lynn said. “[Tortorella] battled through it and ultimately settled in and did the best he could and he kept us in the game.”
The Miners held a 5-1 lead by the time Zach Rohaley came in to relieve Tortorella. Johnstown’s first run of the game came in the first inning off the hot bat of Ben Newbert, who smashed a double into center field to score Owen Sabol.
Johnstown had a total of eight hits.
“Today was a typical baseball game,” Lynn said. “We hit the ball hard. We hit the ball well. We just hit it right at people.”
Johnstown did have some luck with hits discovering gaps to try and trim into the West Virginia lead. Finding themselves in a familiar place, the resilient Mill Rats tried to initiate a little bit of a rally for the second straight game.
Newbert added his second and final RBI of the game in a hit to center field to bring in DJ Alexander to trim the deficit to three. Newbert was a bright spot for Johnstown going 3 for 5 at the plate.
West Virginia and Johnstown both exchanged three runs each in the sixth inning. Andre Good took advantage of a wild pitch to steal home. Sabol smacked a single into right field to score Dylan Swarmer and Cameron Walker.
Johnstown’s run production idled the rest of the game.
Jacob Kinsell picked up the win for the West Virginia Miners. Kinsell only gave up two earned runs over five innings of work.
The Johnstown Mill Rats have tomorrow off and will travel to take on Chillicothe this Tuesday night at 7. The next time the Mill Rats play in Sargent’s Stadium at the Point is against West Virginia this Thursday night at 7.
Full breakdown of the game can be found here: http://pointstreak.com/baseball/boxscore.html?gameid=541048
