Roberts leads offense, Paints overpower Blue Sox
- Behind 14 hits, Chillicothe beat Butler Wednesday night, 9-3.
- Chad Roberts led the offense, going 4 for 5 with a double and 5 RBIs.
- Jake Shields (2-2) earned the win on the mound, throwing five innings of one run baseball.
- The Paints are now 33-19 and have won 17 of their last 19 contests.
CHILLICOTHE – For the first two innings, Wednesday night, rain drizzled to the turf at VA Memorial Stadium. When Mother Nature decided to quit, Chillicothe’s offense took her place, putting together the perfect storm of sound offense and solid pitching.
The Paints (33-19) used that combination to hand the Butler Blue Sox a 9-3 loss — wrapping up their 17th victory in the last 19 tries.
“What I’m really proud of with this team is the fact that we had our ups and downs at the beginning of the season,” Paints manager Greg Cypret said. “Right at the end of the first half into the second, we went through a tough streak. It would’ve been easy right then to say ‘we’re just not getting it done.’ To go on this type of roll is great. We’re all really proud of the guys in the clubhouse.”
Leading the charge at the plate in support of starting pitcher Jake Shields was Paints’ third baseman Chad Roberts, who tattooed the baseball in every plate appearance. Roberts finished 4 for 5 with a double and five RBI.
“Watching (Chad) tonight was fun,” Cypret said. “Those types of performances are what we need to see. Chad has been there all year. He’s super aggressive and he rarely gets up there and gets befuddled.”
Shields (2-2) earned the win on the hill, throwing five innings of one run ball. Shields flirted with danger multiple times but was able to get out of the situations unscathed.
“Jake is the type of guy who welcomes a challenge,” Cypret said. “If he gets hit, he gets hit. But he’s not going to fall apart mentally and just say ‘I can’t get it done.’ He’ll stay after it and make the right pitches. That was a huge boost for us tonight.”
Shields surrendered three hits in his first inning of work, and in the process, allowed Butler to take a 1-0 lead thanks to an RBI single off the bat of David Marcus.
Derek Hug would immediately make it a 1-1 contest in the bottom of the inning with a deep sacrifice fly into center field, plating Deion Tansel.
After Hunter Prince led off the bottom of the second with a single in between third and short, Drew Erie laid down a picture perfect sacrifice bunt. Second baseman Eli Boggess then took advantage of the scoring opportunity by lacing an RBI single into left, giving the Paints a 2-1 lead.
Chillicothe then extended its lead to 5-1 in the the fourth when Chad Roberts posted a bases clearing double.
Then in the fifth, Matt Eppers joined the festivities with a two run single of his own before Roberts struck again with two more RBIs. By the end of the fifth, the Paints owned a 9-1 advantage.
Butler (27-25) would then cut the deficit to six runs, at 9-3, in the top of the ninth when Marcus etched out a two run double. But it was much too little, much too late.
The victory allowed Chillicothe to extend its lead over the Blue Sox in the second half East Division race to 4 1/2 games. The Paints now sit at 18-6 during the second half while Butler is 14-11.
“That’s the important thing,” Cypret said. “With all of these games jammed together, who knows, we may have a couple of tough games in the next two weeks. But if we keep bouncing back, we’re in good position. But crazy things happen in baseball sometimes. We just have to keep playing as solid as we have been.”
After Roberts, Prince finisihed 3 for 5 with two runs while Boggess had a 2 for 3 night, including the RBI and two runs.
Marcus led the Blue Sox, going 3 for 3 with two walks, a double and three RBIs.
In all, Chillicothe pounded out 14 hits and left 10 runners on the base paths. Butler managed 11 hits and left 11 on.
The Paints will be back in action, Thursday night, on the road against Champion City.
dwebb@chillicothegazette.com
Twitter: @dw1509