1994
Southern Division – Round 1
Lancaster Scouts win, 2-games-to-1

Game 1 – Aug. 29 at VA Memorial
Lancaster Scouts 10, PAINTS 6

The Paints never led in their inaugural post-season appearance, committing five errors.  Chillicothe hometown favorite Craig Brown, a 23-year-old lefty, absorbed the loss, allowing six runs (only two earned) in 6.2 innings.
The Paints Ariel Martin had the first postseason hit, a first-inning single.  Martin finished 2-for-5.  Jason Moore  was 2-for-3 with the lone extra-base hit, a double.  Sherron Rives was 2-for-4 with two runs and two RBI.
Paints rallied with four runs in the seventh to tie it at 6-6, but Scouts scored once in the eighth and three in the ninth.

Game 2 – Aug. 30 at VA Memorial
PAINTS 4, Scouts 3

In a stirring do-or-die finish, the Paints rallied for three in the ninth to win, forcing a decisive Game 3.  Down to their final strike and trailing 3-1, the Paints came all the back.
Down 3-2 with the bases loaded, the Paints’ Kurt “The Snake” Venneman, who was 0-for-9 in the playoffs to that point, lashed a hard one-hopper back to the pitcher.  The ball stuck momentarily in the pitcher’s glove before trickling loose behind the mound, allowing Mark Tangen to race home.  As the Scouts pitcher was slow to recover, Mark Avery roared around third and headed for home.  The throw to the plate was wild and the Paints had their first playoff victory.  Avery scored from second base on Venneman’s hit that traveled less than 65 feet.
Avery also hit the first Paints’ playoff homer, a solo shot over the Mead Paper sign in left in the fourth inning.  Brian Tollberg took that a 1-0 lead to the sixth, but Lancaster tied it.
Tollberg should have earned the win.  His pitching line:  7.2 IP, 8 hits, 3 ER, 2 BB, 10 K, but reliever Brad Roser earned the decision.

Game 3 – Sept. 1 at VA Memorial
Lancaster Scouts 9, PAINTS 2

In a Game 3 delayed a day by rain, the Scouts scored eight times in the fourth and fifth to go up 9-0 and rolled to the Southern Division playoff series victory.  Paints’ catcher Mark Avery homered for a second time in the postseason.  Avery led the club with nine regular season homers.
“We were so high after the win Tuesday night and we were ready to go back at it, but then it rained and we got the night off,” said Paints’ manager Roger Hanners.  “We just plain got beat.”
Lancaster (25-39 regular season) lost the first FL Cup series 2-games-to-0 to the Erie Sailors (42-25).  Erie was managed by Mal Fischman.  The Ohio Valley Redcoats (50-17) lost to Erie in the Northern Division playoffs, 2-games-to-0.

1998
East Division – Round 1
PAINTS win, 2-games-to-1

Game 1 – Sept. 2 at Canton’s Thurman Munson Stadium
PAINTS 8, Crocodiles 6

Keeping intact an unusual trend of making the playoffs in each of the even-numbered seasons since 1994, the Paints returned to postseason led by a Murderer’s Row lineup that included Gator McBride, Mitch House and Scott Pinoni.  Combined, the three put up eye-popping numbers:  .327 BA, 54 HR, 60 2B, 227 RBI, accomplished in only 79 games.
Ace Bob Spears (10-5, 3.38) squandered a 4-0 lead as the Paints’ defense misplayed three catchable pop flies to trail 5-4 until the eighth inning at Canton.
Michael Fletcher’s lead-off homer (he had only two in 249 regular season at bats) in the eighth tied it and House’s opposite-field long ball in the ninth rallied Chillicothe to a Game 1 win.  Spears hung tough to gain the win, working 8.2 innings.  Rick Blanc nailed it down for a save.
Only 412 fans attended the game at Munson Stadium.  Canton entered as the defending FL Cup Champions.

Game 2 – Sept. 4 at VA Memorial
Crocs 4, PAINTS 1

Memo to the Paints’ clubhouse attendant:  Keep those Pepsi's and other legal beverages on ice another day.
Canton jumped on 13-game winner Brian Scarcello for three first-inning runs, coming on Jermaine Swinton’s homer, which was his sixth in 17 games against Paints’ pitching this season, and Chillicothe never recovered, held to just six hits.
House’s tape-measure solo homer leading off the seventh was all the Paints could muster.

Game 3 – Sept. 5 at VA Memorial
PAINTS 4, Crocs 3  

Mike Roberts, the charming 23-year-old rookie righty from Wilbraham, Mass., was a huge contributor down the stretch, going 7-1 as the Paints won the pennant.  He was even bigger in the postseason, pitching the club to a decisive Game 3 win.  Roberts allowed two earned runs in 7.2 innings before Blanc nailed it down for his second save in the series.
Chillicothe scored three unearned runs in the third to take a 3-1 lead and McBride scored what proved to be the winning run on a wild pitch in the seventh.  McBride and Brad Plackemeier had two hits and Pinoni three as the offense woke up with 11 knocks.
For the second time in three seasons, Chillicothe will advance to the Cup as East Division champions.
In the West, Springfield outslugged Evansville 12-7 to advance and set up a rematch of the ’96 Cup.

1998 FL Cup Finals
Springfield Capitals win, 2-games-to-1

Game 1 – Sept. 7 at Springfield, Ill.
PAINTS 4, Caps 2

Scott Pinoni’s dramatic three-run homer in the ninth rallied the Paints to a Game 1 win, the first Cup finals win ever for the home town club which brought Chillicothe one win away from a league title.  Pinoni poked a Sean House slider that barely cleared the 350-foot sign in right-field.
As a side note, Pinoni’s homer came on the same day that the St. Louis Cardinals’ Mark McGwire hit his 62^nd homer of the 1998 season, breaking Roger Maris’ 37-year-old record.
Spears was spectacular, going the distance in a six-hitter, walking only one and fanning six.  The Galloway native retired 13 of the final 14 batters, including the final 10.  Spears outdueled Springfield ace Jason Simontacchi, who would go on to pitch three seasons for the Cards, posting a 20-10 win-loss mark

Game 2 – Sept. 9 at VA Memorial
Caps 11, PAINTS 5

Of all the tantalizing, teasing and aggravating chapters in the Paints’ post-season history book, the games of Sept. 9-10, 1998 are perhaps the most confounding.  Needing one win for the league crown and faced with two home games, as well as coming off an emotional Game 1 win on the road, everything seemingly was in place for a ticker-tape parade in Chillicothe.
“One Win From Paradise” read a Gazette headline on the eve of Game 2.
Paradise would wait.
The hard-hitting Caps jumped all over Paints’ starter Scarcello, scoring three in the fourth and four more in the sixth and never looked back.  Tyson Lindekugel led Springfield with two hits and three RBI.
Tony Costantino had two of the Paints’ seven hits.

Game 3 – Sept. 10 at VA Memorial
Caps 7, PAINTS 4

Again, Springfield struck early, grabbing a 3-0 lead and Chillicothe never recovered.  Too much Darren Bush and Joe Ronca was the tale of this one as starter Mike Roberts was knocked from the box in the fifth, his team trailing 4-0.  Bush and Ronca combined for 4-for-7 with two homers and six RBI.
Gator McBride homered and went 4-for-5 to pace a 13-hit Paints’ attack but Chillicothe stranded 15 base runners.

2001
East Division – Round 1
PAINTS win, 2-games-to-1

Game 1 – Aug. 30 at Canton’s Thurman Munson Stadium
PAINTS 12, Crocs 1

Behind Rick Blanc’s four-hitter, the Paints rolled, racking up 13 hits and chasing Canton ace Joe Thomas (9-0, 1.36 in the regular season) early.  Darin Kinsolving and Kevin Connacher homered for the winners, who struck for four in the first, two in the fourth and five in the fifth.  Only 430 attended the game.
Rusty Swackhamer and Dave Dalton collected three hits apiece.  Blanc went the distance, losing his shutout on an eighth-inning homer by Shaun Argento.  Blanc, who was 13-1 with a 3.24 ERA, later earned the 2001 FL Pitcher of the Year Award. 

Game 2 – Sept. 1 at VA Memorial
Crocs 7, PAINTS 4

The Paints fell behind early, 2-0 in the first and 4-0 by the fifth, and never recovered. Canton stayed alive by collecting 10 hits and seven runs against five different Paints’ pitchers, including starter and loser Sean Boesch, who deserved better.  Three Paints errors led to five unearned runs, all charged to Boesch.
Colameco homered, tripled and doubled for Chillicothe, which cut the deficit to 5-4 after eight, but the Crocs scored a pair in the ninth against Kris Buirley and Matt Hampton to hang on.

Game 3 – Sept. 2 at VA Memorial
PAINTS 8, Crocs 7

Andrew See’s bases-loaded RBI single in the 10^th gave the Paints an 8-7 win in the first extra inning playoff game in team history.  This game marked the 22^nd postseason game in Chillicothe history.   The Paints stood 10-12.
Kinsolving’s two-run homer in the fifth staked the team to a 6-2 lead with hard-throwing Paints’ starter Jason Harrison on the hill looking strong.  When Harrison tired in the sixth, Buirley relieved, but served up a three-run homer to Clay Snellgrove in the seventh to make it a 6-5 game.
Down to their final out and trailing 6-5 in the ninth, the Crocs reached Hampton for back-to-back run-scoring singles to take a 7-6 lead to the bottom of the ninth.
Facing elimination, the Paints got a one-single by Kinsolving.  Pinch-runner Jason Graham moved to second on a wild pitch, but Swackhamer grounded out for the second out. Dave “Clutch” Dalton’s RBI single forced extra innings.
Hampton mowed the Crocs down in order in the tenth.  Vinny Cerni was hit by a pitch to open the Paints’ tenth.  Connacher singled, Matt McCay laid down a sacrifice, moving runners to second and third and Colameco was intentionally walked, to bring See to the plate.
The Ohio University product delivered the game-winner, a liner to left, scoring Cerni and Chillicothe was headed to its fourth FL Cup championship series since 1996.

 2001 FL Cup Finals
Richmond Roosters win it, 3-games-to-0

Game 1 – Sept. 4 at Richmond’s McBride Stadium
Roosters 8, PAINTS 5

With the attacks of 9-11 exactly one week away, the ninth edition of the FL Cup championship series opened in Richmond, Ind., pitting the two oldest franchises in the league.  For the first time, the finals would be a best-of-five series.
Blanc was staked to a 2-0 lead in the second on a Swackhamer homer.  The Paints went up 3-0 in the third on Colameco’s RBI single.  But here came the Roosters, scratching out single runs in the fourth and fifth as Blanc struggled with his control, walking three and hitting a batter.
Richmond grabbed the lead 4-3 in the sixth, but a Cerni homer leading off the seventh and a Swackhamer RBI single later made it 5-4 Paints.  However, the Roosters jumped on Buirley for four runs on four hits in the seventh to win it.

Game 2 – Sept. 5 at Richmond’s McBride Stadium
Roosters 14, PAINTS 0

Nightmarish.
That was the only way to describe this game. Richmond sent 15 batters to the plate in the first inning, scoring 10 times on nine hits and the rout was on.  Nine of the runs were unearned.  This remains the most lopsided loss in Chillicothe’s postseason history and the first time the team has been shutout in the playoffs.

Game 3 – Sept. 7 at VA Memorial
 Roosters 6, PAINTS 5

Leading 5-2 in the fifth, the Paints looked like they would avoid the sweep and force Game 4.  But the Roosters weren’t to be denied, plating four runs in the fifth and sixth to steal the victory and win their franchise’s first Cup crown.
Still winless in five tries at VA Memorial in Cup series games, the Paints faded into another offseason, along with an America that would be forever changed less than 96 hours later.

2005
East Division – Round 1
PAINTS win series, 3-games-to-2

Game 1 – Sept. 7 at Washington’s Falconi Field
Wild Things 3, PAINTS 0          

The Glenn Wilson postseason era opened with the wild card Paints a decided underdog against a Washington team that won a league-high 62 games and finished 10 games better than Chillicothe in the East standings.
Pitcher of the Year and 16-game winner John Martinez was no match for his Wild Things counterpart, Ryan Douglas, who combined with Jim Popp to whitewash the Paints on seven hits.

Game 2 – Sept. 8 at Washington’s Falconi Field
PAINTS 8, Wild Things 7          

Going scoreless in 19 straight postseason innings dating back to 2003, the Paints appeared dead in the water and in real danger of falling behind 2-games-to-none in the best-of-five series.  But Chillicothe overcame a 7-1 deficit, scoring four in the fifth and single runs in the sixth and seventh to tie it.
The Paints got seven scoreless innings of relief from Nick Cavanaugh, Luke Palmer, Jeremy Durkee and Ryan Rafferty and the tiebreaking run in the 11^th to win it.  John Ramistella sparked the offense, going 5-for-6 with a homer and three RBI.  Juan Downing added four hits and three RBI to the 15-hit attack.

Game 3 – Sept. 9 at VA Memorial
Wild Things 15, PAINTS 5      

A snowman (8) by the Wild Things offense in the seventh put the Paints in the deep freeze and put Washington within a game of wrapping up the series after a lopsided win.  Keith Ferguson and Marshall Plouffe were hit hard in the loss.
Rambo (solo homer) and Downing (two hits) stayed hot for the Paints, but things looked bleak.

Game 4 – Sept. 10 at VA Memorial 
PAINTS 6, Wild Things 2        

Starter Luke Palmer worked six strong innings and got plenty of offensive support as the Paints forced a Game 5 at Washington with a 13-hit attack.  Six different players drove in runs for the winners – Steve Martin, Doug Dreher, Josh Ury, Jeff Funaro, Noah Peery and Brian Hipps.

Game 5 – Sept. 11 at Washington’s Falconi Field
PAINTS 20, Wild Things 3           

In an unparalleled show of offense, the Paints won, as Gator McBride would say, in a boat race.  In the sixth, the Falconi scoreboard read: Paints 19, Wild Things 0.  Wow!
The Paints dropped a bomb on the Wild Things, filleting seven Washington hurlers for 17 hits including four by Downing, three each by Ury and Rambo, and two each by Dreher and Brian Colopy.
The first-round loss by the favored Wild Things marked the third straight year they failed to make the FL Cup finals.
For the Paints, it meant they would make their first Cup series appearance in four seasons and their fifth all-time, more than any other team.

 2005 FL Cup Finals
Kalamazoo Kings win series, 3-games-to-2.

Game 1 – Sept. 13 at VA Memorial
Kings 6, PAINTS 2

Perry Cunningham recovered from a tough opening round playoff start to pitch decently, but the Kings took advantage of four Paints errors to score four unearned runs and chase PC after seven.
Chillicothe outhit Kalamazoo 7-5 but managed only two runs, coming on RBI doubles by Jeff Funaro in the fifth and ninth.
With the loss, the Paints stood 0-6 at VA Memorial in FL Cup series games.

Game 2 – Sept. 14 at VA Memorial
PAINTS 8, Kings 3

A six-run eighth inning outburst ended the home team’s frustrations and tied the series at a game apiece.
Singles by Rambo, Jose Rodriguez, Josh Ury and Funaro combined with two hit batsmen and two Kings errors fueled the uprising and erased a 3-2 Paints deficit.
Jeremy Durkee picked up the win with 3.1 innings of one-hit shutout relief, whiffing five.

Game 3 – Sept. 16 at Kalamazoo’s Homer Stryker Field
Kings 8, PAINTS 6

In this see-saw series, the Kings came out on top in a slugfest, reaching Martinez for five runs in three innings.  The Paints tried to rally, getting three hits, including a homer, and three runs scored by all-star Rodriguez and a two-run homer by Downing.  Ury also had a pair of knocks and two RBI, but when he failed to slide at third base and was tagged out, a three-run Paints rally ended in the eighth.

Game 4 – Sept. 17 at Kalamazoo’s Homer Stryker Field
PAINTS 5, Kings 2

Facing elimination for the third time this postseason, the Paints responded once again with a win as Cunningham earned the win with help from Durkee and Rafferty.
The Paints jumped on top 4-0 in the middle of the third and held on for the win.  Ury and Rodriguez had two singles each.

Game 5 – Sept. 19 at VA Memorial
Kings 3, PAINTS 0

The Kings and Paints made Frontier League history in this one.  It marked the first time a Game 5 decided a league champion.  Also, it marked the latest a FL season had gone into September.
Kalamazoo’s Josh Martin outdueled Luke Palmer to win the Kings’ first Cup.  Martin was lights out, allowing only singles to Rodriguez in the first and Ury in the second in a complete game shutout.  No Paint reached third base.  Palmer was a victim of non-support, charged with three unearned run and tagged with the loss.
Cavanaugh was brilliant again, finishing the Cup series with 7.1 innings of shutout relief.  In 11.1 postseason frames, Cavanaugh had an ERA of  0.79.

2009 Prospect League Finals
Quincy Gems win series, 2-games-to-0

Game 1 – Aug. 10 at VA Memorial 
Gems 4, PAINTS 2

New league, but same old playoff frustration for the Paints.
The eternal bridesmaids of the Frontier League – losing six times in the championship round – Chillicothe was good enough again to make it to the title series in its first year as a Prospect League club, but fell to the Quincy (Ill.) Gems in a two-game sweep.
Quincy, champions of the West Division, snapped a 2-2 tie in the top of the ninth inning to take Game 1 at VA Memorial.  Since the inception of Paints' baseball 18 years ago, Chillicothe has played 10 championship round games at the VA.  The record – 1-9.
Paints' starter A.J. Achter was good enough to win it, working eight frames, allowing only six hits and fanning five.  His defense let him down, as well as an offense that left far too many runners in scoring position.
Eian Banks' solo homer, Tim Krofcheck's triple and Ben Allen's RBI single plated two runs and tied the game at 2-2 in the fifth.  It stayed that way until the ninth when the Gems reached Blake Mascarello for a pair of runs to win it.

Game 2 – Aug. 12 at QU Stadium
Gems 2, PAINTS 0

The Paints' inaugural campaign in the Prospect League ended in defeat.  Still, the 31-23 Chillicothe club accomplished much, skipper Brian Mannino told WXIZ radio afterwards.
“I do think we've tried to do things right as an organization.  What we're doing here has to do with a lot more than wins and losses and a championship,” Mannino said. “I've heard guys say that this was their best summer in baseball, and that's what it's about.”
Paints' lefty starter Clayton Schulz was sharp, allowing only two hits and two runs in six innings.
But Quincy starter  Casey Ilem was even sharper, blanking Chillicothe on two hits for seven innings.