The Chillicothe Paints punched their ticket to the Prospect League post-season playoffs in August, clinching the First Half Ohio River Valley Division Championship Tuesday, with a 10-3 win over the West Virginia Miners at V.A. Memorial Stadium.
The win broke the tiebreaker with Johnstown. The two “half-season” winners advance to the playoffs. If Chillicothe has the best record in the Ohio Division for the second half, the second place team would also advance to the post-season. Chillicothe secures a home playoff game against the team with the best record in the second half among divisional opponents. That playoff game, the division championship, will be held at VA Memorial Stadium Sunday, August 7 at 6:05pm.
Tuesday’s game highlights saw Chillicothe post 10 runs on 11 hits vs West Virginia, committing one error, while the Miners were held to 3 runs on 7 hits, with one error. Pitcher Evan Wolf got the win for the Paints with Jake Norris gaining the save.
Chillicothe travels to Johnstown tonight for their next game.
Among this year’s Paints roster is Paint Valley High School graduate Cruz McFadden, who has become Mount Vernon Nazarene’s all-time saves leader in just his first two seasons.
Teays Valley High School graduate Brett Carson, who plays college baseball for Marietta, is also on the Paints roster.
Manager Jackson White talks to Litter Media’s Mike Smith about having McFadden and Carson on the roster:
Paints field manager Jackson White talks about having two local players on the roster in Cruz McFadden and Brett Carson. pic.twitter.com/tjDJ9oC2bn
The Paints have their home opening game Thursday, June 2nd in a return match with Champion City. The Paints follow that up at home with West Virginia on Friday, before traveling to West Virginia on Saturday.
(Chillicothe) – The Chillicothe Paints, presented by Adena Health System, announce the signing of pitcher Cruz McFadden for the upcoming season, which begins on the road at Champion City Wednesday, June 1.
McFadden is currently in his sophomore season at Mount Vernon Nazarene University and, as of April 25, is the NAIA’s national saves leader with 12. He also owns the Cougars’ all-time save record with 21 – breaking the record earlier this season when he grabbed his 17th career save in a March 29 win over Goshen College.
Having appeared in 18 games so far this season, McFadden has thrown 25 innings, striking out 32 batters and walking only six. His ERA currently sits at 3.33 and opponents are hitting just .250 against him.
The 6-foot-1 Chillicothe native owns a career 3.42 ERA over parts of two seasons with the Cougars, striking out 56 and walking 15 over 50 innings pitched. His 21 saves have come in 36 appearances, not all of which have been save situations.
McFadden is familiar with playing at VA Memorial Stadium, having played a number of high school contests at the venerable ballpark while playing for Paint Valley High School before graduating in 2020. In his first two season as a Bearcat, McFadden struck out over 100 batters. As a sophomore in 2018, he earned five win, while striking out 78 and amassing an ERA of 1.93. Following the season, he was named first-team All-Scioto Valley Conference and second-team All-District. The pitcher was unable to play his junior season due to Tommy John surgery and his senior season was wiped out by the COVID-19 pandemic.
“Cruz grew so much as a leader during his junior season (2019 when we lost to Wheelersburg in district play),” said Paint Valley head coach Shane Combs. “Even while not playing, he was still committed to his team from the start of preseason all the way to the district tournament. He worked so hard and was throwing so well when his senior season (2020) got shut down. That was a tough year for our program not to get to see that team play, but it feels good to see guys like Cruz, Lane (Ruby), and Brock (Blanton) throw at the next level.”
(Chillicothe) – The Chillicothe Paints, presented by Adena Health System, announce the signing of outfielder Brett Carson for the upcoming 2022 season, which begins on the road at Champion City on Wednesday, June 1st.
Chillicothe Paints
Carson is currently a senior (due to COVID-19 canceling the 2020 season, he is considered a junior athletically) at the top-ranked team in the nation in Division 3, Marietta College, contributing as both a pitcher and an outfielder.
So far this season (as of April 20) on the mound, Carson is 4-1 with a 3.47 ERA over nine appearances, including eight starts, allowing just 14 runs over 36 1/3 innings, while striking out 40 and allowing opponents to hit just .261 against him.
At the plate, Carson owns a .394 batting average, collecting 37 hits in 94 at bats, including 12 doubles, three triples, five home runs and 23 RBIs. He has also stolen six bases on seven attempts and owns a perfect fielding percentage on the defensive side.
Carson spent the first three years of his collegiate career at Muskingum University, where he played in 79 games, hitting .371 with 26 doubles, six triples, four home runs and 28 RBIs for the Muskies. During the 2021 season, Carson started all 31 games, primarily in centerfield, leading the Muskies in home runs (4), runs batted in (28), runs scored (26) and stolen bases (7), while ranking fourth in the Ohio Althletic Conference with a .405 batting average. For his efforts, Carson was named first-team All-OAC.
An Ashville, Ohio, native, Carson is a graduate of Teays Valley High School, where he played soccer, football and basketball, in addition to baseball. On the diamond, he was named first-team All-Mid State League three times and helped the Vikings to the 2017 MSL Buckeye Division Championship.
The Chillicothe Paints open the home portion of their season Thursday, June 2 at VA Memorial Stadium against the Champion City Kings at 7:05 p.m. Draft beer will be just $2 for Thirsty Thursday, thanks to Budweiser, and a Fireworks Extravaganza will follow, sponsored by 94 Country. Information regarding tickets, group outings, sponsorship opportunities and more is available by calling (740) 773-TEAM or by emailing the team at paints@bright.net.
