Beckley – Patrick Mills has been stellar this season and Tuesday night he only added to his strong campaign
Mills hit the first home run of the game to get a quick three runs in a dominant 8-0 win over Chillicothe at Linda K. Epling Stadium.
This is just the first of a nine-game stretch the Miners will be playing against the Paints. While a nine-game stretch may intimidate some, team manager Tim Epling just sees tomorrow as another game.
“Tomorrow’s just a different day, we treat the season like it’s 0-0 every game,” Epling said. “Baseball’s a very humbling sport, makes you keep your composure no matter what the score is. That’s what I’m really wanting to see how our attitude is towards that.”
Miners pitcher Myles Daniels, along with the rest of the defense smashed through the first inning with three straight outs. He wasn’t stopping there, ending the second with two strikeouts and a fly out while having two fly outs and a strikeout in the third. The Paints never got any runs during the innings Daniels pitched as he allowed three hits, striking out five in five innings.
On offense the Miners poured it on early.
After Juan Familia and Denver Blinn started off the bottom of the first with back-to-back singles, designated hitter Malik Williams got an RBI-single to send Familia home. The Miners kept it ramped up with Mills hitting his home run, sending Blinn and Williams home.
Andrew Neff entered the game for the Miners in the sixth inning, securing three quick outs.
The Miners kept it rolling in the bottom of the fifth, scoring two more runs. Mills notched an RBI-single to bring Blinn home while Mills stole his way home to plate their second run of the inning.
The Miners scored two more runs in the sixth before the game was called due to rain.
Epling spoke on the pitching and how the energy of tonight’s win was.
“We got some energy and that’s the way you’re supposed to play,” Epling said. “You’re supposed to enjoy it and learn how to better yourself with every bat and every pitch. Just gotta stay focused, but I was very pleased with how both players pitched today – they did a great job. We’re always changing something, and the guys took it upon themselves to change a few things up, and I love seeing that energy.”
Both teams will meet on Wednesday in Beckley with the first pitch set for 6:35 p.m.
Chillicothe Paints 0 AT West Virginia Miners 8
YTD YTD
Chillicothe AB R H BI AVG West Virginia AB R H BI AVG
Preece, R CF 1 0 1 0 .182 Familia, J CF 2 1 1 0 .421
Ludwick, A 2B 2 0 1 0 .381 Blinn, D 2B 4 3 2 1 .452
Feltner, J 1B 3 0 0 0 .278 Williams, M DH 4 1 1 1 .314
Jackson, J C 3 0 0 0 .111 Mills, P 1B 3 2 2 4 .480
Vincent, M 3B 2 0 1 0 .250 Iazzetta, C RF 2 0 1 1 .206
Gbur, B LF 2 0 1 0 .161 Melendez, K SS 0 0 0 0 .273
Allen, J DH 2 0 0 0 .222 Meech, D LF 3 0 0 0 .208
Maeker, T DH,PH 1 0 0 0 .077 Reifsnyder, J 3B 2 1 0 0 .364
Karaffa, N SS 2 0 0 0 .167 Gutierrez, K C 3 0 0 0 .000
Silverstein, J RF 2 0 0 0 .167
20 0 4 0 23 8 7 7
Chillicothe 0 0 0 0 0 0 - 0 4 2
West Virginia 4 0 0 0 2 2 - 8 7 1
2B--Gbur, B LF (3), Blinn, D 2B (3). HR--Mills, P 1B (3). RBI--Blinn, D 2B
(8), Williams, M DH (14), Mills, P 1B 4 (13), Iazzetta, C RF (9), TOTALS
7 (0). HP--Iazzetta, C RF (5). SH--Melendez, K SS (0). SB--Preece, R CF
(3). CS--Preece, R CF (2), Familia, J CF (3). E--Wehrle, T P (1), Ronevich,
T P (1), Gutierrez, K C (2).
LOB--Chillicothe 7, West Virginia 7. DP--D. Blinn(2B) - J. Reifsnyder(3B) -
P. Mills(1B).
YTD
IP H R ER BB SO HR ERA
Chillicothe
Wehrle, T (L,0-1) 4.2 6 6 4 3 5 1 6.43
Ronevich, T 1.0 1 2 2 4 1 0 13.50
Armbrustmacher, D 0.0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0.00
5.2 7 8 6 7 6 1
West Virginia
Daniels, M (W,1-1) 5.0 3 0 0 4 5 0 5.73
Neff, A 1.0 1 0 0 1 1 0 0.00
6 4 0 0 5 6 0
WP--Wehrle, T (1). HB--Wehrle, T (1). SO--Jackson, J, Gbur, B, Allen, J,
Maeker, T, Silverstein, J 2, Familia, J, Blinn, D, Reifsnyder, J,
Gutierrez, K 3. BB--Preece, R 2, Ludwick, A, Vincent, M, Gbur, B, Familia,
J 2, Mills, P, Iazzetta, C, Melendez, K 2, Reifsnyder, J. BF--Wehrle, T 24
(36), Ronevich, T 8 (22), Daniels, M 20 (50), Neff, A 5 (5). P-S--Wehrle, T
100-61, Ronevich, T 31-13, Armbrustmacher, D 1-1, Daniels, M 83-44, Neff, A
21-15.
T--2:49.
