Paints drop home opener to Miners

• Chillicothe pounded out 10 base hits but fell to West Virginia, 7-2, in their 2015 opener.
• Deion Tansel led the Paints, going 3-4 at the plate and flashing leather in the field.
• Ohio State product Adam Niemeyer took the loss, throwing 5 innings and giving up 3 runs on 6 hits.

CHILLICOTHE – After a fast start out of the gate, the Chillicothe Paints limped to the finish line in their home opener Wednesday night at VA Memorial Stadium.

Chillicothe fell to West Virginia, 7-2, but did show positive signs in the loss.

Starting pitcher Adam Niemeyer, out of Ohio State University, gave the club five solid innings, while the offense put pressure on the Miners’ defense in each of the first four.

“Niemeyer had a pretty good outing,” Paints manager Greg Cypret said post game. “Overall, it wasn’t bad, but we need to pick it up a little and start to play a little better. I was happy with our overall defense. All in all, pretty good defensively tonight, but we have to put a little more pressure on the opponent offensively.”

While the offense might have struggled, second baseman Deion Tansel missed the memo. Tansel showed off his bat at the plate going 3-4 with two stolen bases and a run while proving his 2015 Mid-American Conference Defensive Player of the Year award was no fluke in the field.

“Deion played fantastic tonight,” Cypret said. “He made a couple of really nice plays at second and was good as we expect him to be at the top of the order.”

In total, the Paints collected 10 hits while leaving 10 runners on base — an area in which Cypret said he thinks they can improve upon.

“We were short a little in every phase tonight,” Cypret said. “But hopefully, we’ll get a few more guys in town and keep switching things around a little bit. Those first four innings were especially tough. We need to have better at bats with guys on base.”

Chillicothe (0-1) struck first blood in the bottom of the first inning.

Tansel led off with a single in between third and short before stealing second base on the next pitch. Tanner Allison would then move the runner to third base on a 3-1 putout. Tansel would then travel the remaining 90 feet when catcher Chad Roskelly logged an RBI sacrifice fly into right field, making it 1-0, Paints.

In the top of the third, the Miners (1-0) would quickly answer with the tying and go-ahead runs.

Catcher James Keller led off with a double down the left field line before nine-hole hitter Dylan Harvey singled, putting runners on the corners with no outs.

Niemeyer would get Marcus McCorkle to fly out to first before allowing a two-run single to Jonathan Weeks, giving the Miners a 2-1 lead.

The Paints would tie the ballgame at two in the bottom of the inning via Ryan Callahan, who was granted an RBI on a fielder’s choice.

But from that point on, it was all West Virginia.

The Miners would score one in the fifth, three in the sixth and one in the seventh while holding the Paints’ offense scoreless for the remainder of the contest.

In total, West Virginia scored their seven runs on 11 hits while leaving seven runners on the base paths. Chillicothe stranded 10 runners.

Four Miners — Weeks, Mark DeYoung, Keller and Justin Paul — had two hits each. On the mound, Anthony Brunetti — who came in relief for starter Tyler Oglesby — picked up the win, throwing 3²/₃ innings and allowing just two hits.

After Tansel, Chad Roberts went 3-4 while Matt Eppers finished the night 2-5. Niemeyer took the loss, giving up three earned runs on six hits while striking out four Miners.

Chillicothe will now embark on a two-day road trip to Richmond, Virginia, before returning home Saturday night.

“We want to get on the winning side of things,” Cypret said. “(Jason) Byers hasn’t thrown this spring but he says his arm is feeling good. He’ll start in tomorrow’s game and hopefully he’ll get going a little bit on the mound. Hopefully, instead of getting one hit per inning, we can clump four or five in the same inning.”

dwebb@chillicothegazette.com

Twitter: @dw1509