Paints Hand Aviators First Loss, 8-7 in 10 innings

LAFAYETTE, Ind. - The Chillicothe Paints, presented by CohenOrthopedic, took down the Prospect League's only remaining undefeated team heading into Wednesday, beating the Lafayette Aviators 8-7 in 10 innings and in come-from-behind fashion.

Chillicothe (6-2) took an early 3-0 lead in the second inning, scoring on a bases-loaded walk by Carter Hire, an RBI fielder's choice by Gabe Pitts and an RBI groundout by Justin Gorski.

Lafayette (7-1) got one back in the bottom of the third, scoring on Drew Potts' RBI single with two outs. 

In the bottom of the fourth, Gabe Boyd homered to right field to lead off the inning, putting the Aviators within a run. Dean Hannah followed, doubling to right-center field and scoring on Rodney Rachel's sacrifice fly to tie the game at 3-3.

The Aviators plated four unearned runs in the sixth, taking advantage of two Chillicothe errors and two timely hits, including a two-run single by Diego Frey, making it 7-3.

Chillicothe was able to get one back in the top of the eighth, scoring on a wild pitch and cutting the deficit to 7-4.

In the top of the ninth, Chillicothe's Cam Gravelle worked a leadoff walk, advancing to second when Alex Bemis was hit by a pitch. A double steal put the runners at second and third. Tripp Johns struck out swinging, but reached first on a passed ball, while Gravelle scored and Bemis advanced to third. Mike Schaefer grounded out to shortstop, scoring Bemis. Jude Clough doubled to right-center field, scoring Samuel Meyer, who was running for Johns, tying the game at 7-7. 

Lafayette got the winning run to third in the bottom of the ninth, but Evan Schweizer, who entered for the Paints with two-out in the sixth, struck out Gabe Boyd to send the game to extra inning.

With Hire running at second to start the 10th, Pitts moved him to third with a groundout to shortstop. Gorski lifted a ball to left field, scoring Hire on a sacrifice fly and putting the Paints up 8-7.

With a runner on at second to start the bottom of the 10th, Schweizer got Dean Hannah to line out to shortstop to start the inning. He walked Zach Pelletier, putting the potential winning run at first. Rachel hit into a fielder's choice at third base, putting the potential tying run at third and, after a steal, the potential winning run at second with two outs. Lafayette sent Blake Bowen to the plate as a pinch hitter, eventually striking out to end the game.

Schweizer (1-0) turned in the longest relief outing of the year for Chillicothe, going 4.2 innings and allowing no runs on two hits, walking two and striking out six.

The Paints and Aviators play at Lafayette's Loeb Stadium at 7 p.m. again Thursday. The game can be heard live for free over the air on Hank FM 100.9 and streaming on the Total Media Radio App. Subscribers can watch the Lafayette-produced broadcast at prospectleaguenetwork.com.