JOHNSTOWN, Pa. – The Chillicothe Paints earned a series split against the Johnstown Mill Rats after claiming a 7-4 victory in Prospect League action on Thursday night.
The Mill Rats doubled up the Paints in the hit column 10-5, but were unable to capitalize on their multiple scoring chances, leaving 11 runners on base.
Johnstown, after trailing 7-1 entering the bottom of the ninth, scored three runs on five hits in the frame, all singles, and brought the tying run to the plate with two outs. However, with runners at second and third, Paints reliever Seth Evans struck out Jake Casey to end the game.
Chillicothe jumped in front early in the contest and never looked back, tallying two runs in the top of the first before Kade Wroot and Tim Orr each hit solo home runs in the fourth and fifth innings, respectively, to increase the lead to 4-0.
Johnstown got a run back in the bottom of the sixth on an RBI double by Casey, but the Paints tallied three runs in the top of the eighth that would eventually put the game out of reach.
DJ Alexander, Joe Alcorn and Pete Capobianco each had two hits for the Mill Rats. Andrew Kribbs hit a two-run single in the ninth inning. Johnstown starter Josh Cottrill was tagged with the loss after allowing four runs on four hits over six innings.
Johnstown (11-15) will visit the Paints for a two-game series in Chillicothe starting Friday night at 7:05 p.m.
