Helsel Dominates, Paints Mercy Rule Johnstown 11-0

CHILLICOTHE, Ohio - The Chillicothe Paints, presented by CohenOrthopedic, opened up the home portion of their schedule Thursday night with an 11-0 mercy-rule victory over the Johnstown Mill Rats at VA Memorial Stadium. What was likely lost in the offensive outburst, was a dominant pitching effort.

Garrett Helsel (1-0) started on the mound for Chillicothe (1-0), immediately showing that he had his best stuff, striking out the first batter of the game. After allowing a double, the lefty struck out the next two batters, though a dropped third strike allowed the inning to continue. Helsel struck out the next batter to end the top half of the first, his fourth strikeout of the first innings.

Offensisivley, the Paints got right to work, Alex Richter and Alex Bemis both walked to open the bottom of the first. Two batters later, Samuel Fabian knocked home the game's first run, scoring Richter on a sacrifice fly. Bemis scored on an RBI single by Eric Colaco, making it 2-0.

Helsel struck out the leadoff hitter for Johnstown (2-1) to start the second inning and, after inducing a flyout and an error, struck out the last batter of the inning, giving him six strikeouts after just two innings.

The Paints continued to add on in the bottom of the second inning. After Cole Raile, Graham Solak and Alex Monile all reached to start the inning, Richter worked an RBI walk, scoring Raile. Solak scored on a double play and Felix Polanco singled home Monile, making it 5-0 Paints through two.

Back on the mound in the top of the third, Helsel gave up a leadoff single, one of just three hits he'd allow on the night, then promplty got the next batter to hit into a 6-4-3 double play. The next batter flied out to center, turning things back over the Paints' offense, where they broke the game open.

Chillicothe scored five runs on two hits - both two-run doubles by Raile and Bemis - extending the lead to 10-0 after three innings.

Helsel returned to the mound to start the fourth, working a 1-2-3 inning that included a pair of strikeouts, running his total to eight. He picked up his ninth and final strikout in the fifth, his final inning. Helsel finished the night having thrown five shutout innings, allowing three hits, walking none and striking out nine en-route to earning the win.

Chillicothe would tack on one more run in the bottom of the sixth - Fabian led the inning off with a walk, later scoring from first on Colaco's RBI double, capping the scoring for the night at 11-0.

After Johnstown faailed to score in the top of the seventh, the Prospect League's mercy rule was triggered, ending the game after just one hour and 57 minutes. Mikey Olivieri pitched the final two innings for the Paints, allowing just one hit and striking out one in his first outing of the season.

The Paints and Mill Rats play again at VA Memorial Stadium Friday night at 7:05 p.m. The first 500 fans receive a free magnetic schedule, courtesy of Thomas G Brewster, Brewster Real Estate & Auction. Tickets are available at tickets.chillicothepaints.com.