All of a sudden, Miners' division is crowded
Jun. 28—A week ago, the two-game series that starts Tuesday between West Virginia and Champion City looked like it was on course to determine the first half champion in the Prospect League East's Ohio River Valley Division.
In hindsight, it's never wise to count out Chillicothe.
On June 19, the Paints were 7-12 before winning two straight but went into last Monday's off day still trailing first-place Champion City by five games and the second-place Miners by 2 1/2.
The Paints have not lost since then, carrying an eight-game win streak into Tuesday. Chillicothe, a Prospect League blueblood that won its second championship in 2019, has made the ORV Division a three-team race.
The Kings (16-11) are still in first place, but the Paints (15-12) have leapfrogged the Miners and are in second place, one game behind Champion City. The Miners (14-12), who snapped a three-game losing streak with an 11-6 win at Johnstown on Sunday, are 1 1/2 games back of the Kings.
All of which means the cliché takes on true meaning — the Miners can worry only about what they can control. In order to even have a chance of winning the first half title and locking up a playoff spot, they must sweep the Kings. Then they need Johnstown (7-20) to slow down the Paints and beat them just once.
The first half of the season ends with Wednesday's games.
The Miners are 1-3 against the Kings but have outscored them 40-21. They beat Champion City 19-7 on June 5 and have a pair of one-run losses (8-7 and 4-3).
The Kings and Miners have the top two offenses in the league. Champion City leads the way in team batting average (.303), runs scored (213; 7.9 per game) and home runs (28). The Miners are second in average (.287) and runs (201; 7.7 per game).
West Virginia's pitching has been more effective. The Miners are second in team earned run average at 4.46 and are the only team in the league to have given up fewer than 10 home runs (8). Miners pitchers have issued 109 walks, second-fewest in the league.
Both games of the series will start at 6:35 p.m.
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Chillicothe has been getting it done with its offense.
After scoring 72 runs through their first 19 games, the Paints have pushed across 111 during their eight-game win streak, an average of 13.9 per game. They have reached double digits in five games, including a 30-2 win over Terre Haute on Saturday. That game was sandwiched between a 16-9 win over Johnstown and 14-5 win over Champion City.
The Paints have had at least 10 hits in every game except one during the streak. They are batting .360 over that span.
Right fielder Trey Smith played in seven of the eight games and is 14-for-27 (.519) with two home runs, five doubles and eight runs batted in. He has raised his batting average over 100 points, from .229 to .333.
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Pat Mills is having a huge season for the Miners. So impactful has he been that he could end up writing himself into the Miners record book before July.
Mills currently leads the Prospect League in RBIs with 41 and is third in home runs with eight. He is only four off the team RBI record of 45 set by Austin Norman in 2016, and three off the home run record of 11 set by Gray Stafford in 2012.
He had 17 RBIs last week, including three in each of his last three games and six on a two-homer night against Johnstown.
Mills is also sixth in the Prospect League in batting (.402). The Miners record is .393 (Clayton Prestridge, 2012).
Email: gfauber@register-herald.com and follow on Twitter @GaryFauber
