Beckley – While the West Virginia Miners have been on a hot streak, they had a rough go in a doubleheader Saturday at the Linda K. Epling Stadium, dropping a 9-5 and a 3-2 decision to Chillicothe – both in extra innings.
The Miners’ night started poorly on both sides in the first game with the Paints scoring a run and Miners getting no one on base in the first inning.
Center fielder Isaiah Ortega-Jones didn’t lie down, getting off a promising start in the second ending. He notched the first two outs off a double play, and finished the inning with another fly out.
Offensively the hosts performed better the second inning, getting two on base but both were stranded by the end of the inning.
The bad luck continued for the Miners in the top of the third after Paints right fielder Trey Smith had an RBI-triple leading them to a five run lead in the third.
The Miners eventually got their first run with an RBI-single from Patrick Mills to send Ortega-Jones home in the bottom of the third. This fired the Miners up as they quickly loaded the bases with Denver Blinn up to bat. Blinn brought home Straton Podaras with an RBI-walk, his 17th RBI of the year.
Although the home team started off slow, they eventually found their groove in the bottom of the fifth with first baseman Malik Williams hitting an RBI-triple to send Mills home. The Miners kept it going with an RBI-single from Blinn bringing Williams back to the plate and shortening the Paints’ lead to one run. The Miners wouldn’t stop the comeback inning just yet, with Blinn scoring on an RBI-double from left fielder David Meech, ending the inning 5-5.
Defensively, Luis Domingez-Rojas came in the fifth inning to pitch, only letting two runners on base in the fifth and sixth. Rojas carried that momentum into the seventh, retiring three in a row in the top of the seventh inning – two on strikeouts and one on a flyout. Chili never got any runs or hits during Rojas’ three full innings on the mound.
The top of the eighth inning proved to be the demise for the Miners, with the Paints scoring four runs to help seal the first game of the doubleheader. The first game ended 9-5, Paints coming out on top.
In the second contest of the evening the Miners started off strong with their pitching.
Steve Bowley came in as the starting pitcher, striking out two with one ground out to quickly close the top of the first.
Things quickly turned for the worst when Chili scored in the top of the second off a balk, then scored again the next play on a steal by Jimmy Allen all the way home.
Bowley’s pitching helped the Miners again as he struck out two straight and induced a groundout to close the top of the third. He continued his hot streak in the fourth, refusing to let anyone on base again.
Meanwhile the Miners couldn’t get going offensively, going hitless in the first four innings.
While the Miners struggled offensively, they hustled extremely well on defense, coming up with a double play to get out of the fourth inning.
Team manager Tim Epling spoke about the hustle his team put out tonight.
“I shouldn’t have to push hustle, that’s something I don’t do,” Epling said. “They wanna play hard or they don’t. Individually their actions speak for themselves, I shouldn’t have to say anything.”
Andrew Neff came on in the top of the sixth inning to replace Bowley, who finished his night with five strikeouts, two walks and two hits. Neff’s first inning went as he induced the fourth double play of the day.
The Miners offense got going in the bottom of the sixth with Padaros notching an RBI-single to send pinch runner Brendan Williams home. Malik Williams then gained an RBI-double to send Jones home in the Miners first hit of the game. The Miners ended the inning with two runs, evening the score 2-2.
Both Chili and the Miners were scoreless in the seventh, sending the game into an extra innings.
In the top of the eighth Joshua Zeboskey came in as the final pitcher for the Miners, recording three straight outs and giving the Miners a chance to clinch the game. While they did get two on base, they couldn’t finish it in the eighth.
In the top of the ninth Chili scored another run off an RBI-triple by Nathan Karaffa to make the game 3-2.
The Miners gave a good effort, but couldn’t score any runs in the bottom of the ninth, falling 3-2.
Both teams will meet again Sunday in Beckley at 6:35p.m.
