SPRINGFIELD, Ohio – The Champion City Kings (2-4, 9-26) rallied from a three-game roadtrip with a battle against the Prospect League leader, the Chillicothe Paints (3-1, 22-11) at Carleton Davidson Stadium on Saturday (July 6).
Following three losses on the road to Johnstown and REX Baseball, the Kings came home and defeated the Paints 4-2 for their fourth win over the Paints this season.
Chillicothe struck first with three singles in the top of the first inning, scoring the first run of the game. Champion City wasted little time to respond, tying the game within the first three batters. Braylen Blomquist (St. Clairsville, Ohio / Wright State) walked, stole second base and scored on a RBI double by Louis Florida (Wilmette, Illinois / DePauw).
One inning later, the Kings pushed the lead to 2-0 with a two-out hit. Evan Houseman (Springfield, Ohio / Bluffton) singled and scored on a RBI single by Blomquist.
The Paints tied the game in the fourth but the game was not deadlocked long. Houseman stepped to the plate in the bottom half of the inning and drilled a solo home run to center field. His first blast of the season pushed Champion City to a 3-2 lead.
In the seventh inning, Florida used his fourth hit of the night for a RBI single as Champion City lead 4-2. That would be the last scoring of the evening.
Florida became the second straight King to have four hits in a game after James Salvatori (Wheeling, West Virginia / West Liberty) had one on Friday night at REX. Houseman had two hits, including his homer. Blomquist walked twice and scored both times when he coaxed a free pass.
Wesley Culley (Millington, Tennessee / University of the Cumberlands) grinded through his outing to pitch into the seventh inning. He scattered eight hits (seven singles) across six and one third innings, allowing two runs. He walked one and fanned five batters. Matt Ritter (Avon, Indiana / DePauw) made his debut with 1.1 innings of scoreless relief with two walks. Nate Miller (Port St. Lucie, Florida / Notre Dame College) got the final out of the eighth with a groundout. Joe Stone (Waynesville, Ohio / Thomas More) worked around two singles to earn his third save of the campaign in the ninth.
The homestand continues on Sunday (July 7) with an appearance by the ZOOPERSTARS as Johnstown comes to town. First pitch is set for 4:05 PM.