Ethan S. Smith – 06/29/24
The Johnstown Mill Rats offense collected 15 hits and 16 runs en route to a 16-5 blowout victory over the Danville Dans at Sargent’s Stadium on Saturday night.
Johnstown first baseman Jack Newman(2-for-4) had a banner evening, hitting two home runs while collecting five RBIs for the Mill Rats. His efforts spear-headed an offense that saw every starter record a hit. Center fielder Max Humphrey(3-for-4), second baseman Dom Krupinski(2-for-5) and shortstop Parker Martin(3-for-3) all had multi-hit evenings.
Johnstown’s offense took center stage in this one, but starting pitcher Graeme Rios(R) had success of his own, striking out five Dans batters across five innings, allowing four earned runs. Reliever Charlie Sindahl(R) threw a scoreless inning with two strikeouts in relief.
Danville starter Abe Chancellor(L) had a rough evening versus the Mill Rats offense, allowing five earned runs on seven hits in just three innings of work.
The fourth inning saw the bulk of the runs scored by both teams, with 11 runs coming across in the inning, eight of those from Johnstown. Johnstown saw 13 hitters come to the plate in the fourth, including designated hitter Peyton Starr, who had a bases-clearing triple off Danville reliever Aidan Dorsch(R), who allowed five earned runs on seven hits in less than an inning of work. Danville reliever Mac Ketchin(R), ended the fourth inning and finished his outing with three earned runs allowed across 2.1 innings pitched.
Despite the loss, Danville catcher Josh Davis collected two hits and two RBIs while Danville right fielder Brenden Stressler also had a multi-hit evening.
Johnstown reliever Jonah Richardson(R) would shut things down in the seventh inning, resulting in a mercy-rule victory as the Mill Rats led by 10-plus runs.
The win improved the Mill Rats to 13-15, winning three of their past four games. The Danville Dans dropped to 16-13.
Johnstown and Danville will conclude their two-game weekend set on Sunday at Sargent’s Stadium, the final game of the first half of the 2024 Prospect League season.