By Dave Morrison
Sports Editor
—
It was one West Virginia Miners manager Tim Epling will delete from the memory banks.
Wednesday night’s 16-5 loss to Chillicothe was not for the baseball purist.
The 3-hour, 21-minute marathon featured a lot, and not much of it was pleasant on the home side.
“I sure don’t want to remember it,” Epling said after the game. “It’s one of those things that happens. We were lethargic. And (Chillicothe) is still fighting for a playoff spot. I don’t know. It just seemed like we were a step slow all night.”
And when the long night ended, the Miners were more than a few runs behind.
But for a while, a brief glimmer early, you might say, it looked good, as starter Zach Smith breezed through the first two innings. Afterward, the Miners actually had a two-run lead.
That’s when the meltdown started.
Chillicothe plated four runs in the third, the big blow a double by Steve Anderson — the Paints third double of the inning — that plated two runs.
West Virginia (10-13) would actually tie the score in the fourth, on a sacrifice fly by Joe Koch and a groundout by Clay Prestridge.
But Chillicothe would score three in the fifth, sending nine batters to the plate, with Paul Sneider delivering the big blow, a two-run single.
But the Paints didn’t stop there.
They added two in the sixth and five in the eighth, in a half-inning that lasted 22 minutes.
It got so bad that Epling sent three pinch hitters to the plate in the bottom of the eighth and actually allowed pitcher Jordan Hudson to hit in the ninth.
About the only positive evidence Epling could cull from the game was just that.
“Everybody got to play,” he said. “Everybody got reps, everybody got to see pitches. Those guys don’t need to just sit there getting stale. You never concede, but when a game gets out of hand like that, you need to let some guys get some reps, and that is exactly what we did.”
The game, played before 712 fans, saw 21 combined runs cross the plate, on 22 hits, and the teams combined for seven errors. Ten pitchers were used in the game, and they issued a combined 15 walks.
“We just have to put this out of our minds and see how we come out tomorrow,” Epling said. “We’re trying to get prepared for the playoffs, and it would be nice to come out and get a win in front of a nice crowd.”
The Paints’ No. 9 hitter Andrew Ciennick had a memorable night, going 4 for 4 and reaching base all six times he came to the plate. He scored four runs and knocked in two.
The Miners, who won the Prospect League East Division’s first half, will host a playoff game against the second-half champion Monday at Linda K. Epling Stadium.
Tonight’s regular-season finale with Chillicothe will be Host Family and Fan-Appreciation Night. Dave Traube will have the call on Groovy 94.1-FM.
