Jun. 13—The West Virginia Miners were swept by the Chillicothe Paints, 9-5 and 3-2 Saturday night at Linda K. Epling Stadium in Beckley. Both games went to extra innings.
The sweep knocked the Miners (8-7) out of first place in the Ohio River Valley Division. They trail Champion City by one-half game.
West Virginia, which had won four straight, managed only one hit in the nightcap but was able to tie it with two runs in the sixth. Brendan Williams scored when Straton Podaras reached on an error, and then a double by Malik Williams drove in Isaiah Ortega-Jones with the game-tying run.
It stayed that way until the ninth when Trey Wright was hit by a pitch and, one out later, scored all the way from first on a single by Nathan Karaffa off Josh Zeboskey (1-1).
Zach Kendall held the Miners hitless through four innings, then Jake Silverstein (1-0) got the win after five innings of one-hit relief.
In the opener, West Virginia tied the game at five with a three-run fifth before the Paints scored four in the eighth.
Trey Smith was 4-for-5 with a double, triple and three runs batted in for Chillicothe (6-9). Ruben Ramirez (2-0) worked the final two innings and held the Miners to one hit while striking out five and walking one.
Luis Rojas (0-1) was charged with the Paints’ first run of the eighth and absorbed the loss.
Denver Blinn had a double and two RBIs and Pat Mills was 3-for-4.
The teams will meet again Sunday at 6:35 p.m. at Epling Stadium. After an off-day Monday, they will return to Chillicothe for games Tuesday and Wednesday. First pitch for both games will be 7:05 p.m.
The Miners will then host Johnstown Thursday and Friday at 6:35 p.m.