6/29/2025
By George Lucas
Three days after locking down a first-half division championship playoff spot, the Johnstown Mill Rats’ four-day road swing ended with a 10-5 loss to the Chillicothe Paints Sunday at VA Memorial Field in Chillicothe, Ohio.
Johnstown went 1-3 on the trip and fell to 0-2 to begin the second half. Their game at Champion City on Thursday was rained out and their only win came Friday against O’Fallon.
Johnstown led Sunday night’s game 2-0 in the fourth. Colton Ayres, who reached on a double, scored on Sergio DeCello’s RBI double. DeCello advanced to third and came home on a Jace Essig RBI sacrifice fly.
The lead was short-lived, however, as Chillicothe erupted for four runs in the bottom of the chapter to take a 4-2 lead.
The Rats got one back in the sixth. DeCello’s sacrifice fly drove in Brady Gavula to make it 4-3 Paints.
But Chillicothe responded with a huge bottom of the sixth scoring six runs in the frame to build a 10-3 lead.
Johnstown got two back in the eighth, but it wasn’t nearly enough. The Mill Rats were retired in order in the ninth to set the final at 10-5.
Starting Mill Rats’ pitcher John Hojnowski was tagged with his first loss of the season and falls to 4-1.
Branin Seibert improves to 2-0 with the win for the Paints.
The Mill Rats return home to Sargent’s Stadium at The Point to open a six-game home stand Tuesday with a double-header against the Paints beginning at 5:00pm.