By Lee W. Mowen

SPRINGFIELD, OH – The Johnstown Mill Rats needed one win to clinch the second half playoff spot, but the Champion City Kings stormed out the first six runs in two innings en route to a 12-6 win. Lukas Galdoni (Hawthorn Woods, IL; Butler) broke the record for the most extra-base hits in a single season and tied the most doubles in the season, going 3-for-3 with two home runs in the game.

Trey Meade (Seaman, OH; Rio Grande) got the start for Champion City, seeking his first win of the season. The right-hander dazzled in the start, going six strong against Johnstown and sitting the Mill Rats down in order to begin the contest. In response to the opening frame, the Kings went to work against Johnstown starter Austin Hammerle.

Mitchell Okuley (Powell, OH; Ohio State) led off the Kings with a single, followed with a walk to Ben Ross (Springfield, OH; Notre Dame College.) Brent Widder (Sheboygan, WI; Evansville) also walked, which loaded the bases up with zero outs. Galdoni stepped to the plate, bringing home his first RBI of the game on a sacrifice fly out to right. Alex Ryan (Lake Mills, WI; Valparaiso) followed with another sac fly out to right to push the lead to 2-0. Trey Carter (Wheelersburg, OH; Rio Grande) brought home a third run with a RBI single, scoring Widder. Ethan Krizen (North Port, FL; Thomas) reached on an error by the third baseman. Bo Seccombe (Tallahassee, FL; Faulkner) brought home the last run of the first inning on a RBI single. All nine Kings batted against Hammerle in the opening frame, with Champion City leading 4-0.

Meade faced the minimum in the second inning, allowing just one hit but getting a 1-6-3 double play. The Kings got back to work against Hammerle in the second, with Okuley drawing a full-count walk. With Okuley at third on a wild pitch and stolen base, Galdoni crushed his first home run of the night and eleventh of the year, and Champion City led 6-0 after two. Hammerle would last 1.2 innings, allowing six runs on four hits and walking three.

Johnstown got on the board in their third, as Pete Capobianco drilled a solo home run over the left field fence. The Kings answered back with one run off of reliever Nick Roell, with Carter tripled to begin the bottom of the third. Krizen hit the game’s third sacrifice fly. The hosts led 7-1 after the third.

The eighth run for Champion City scored off a RBI single by Ryan, with Ben Ross scoring after a leadoff double. After two runs in the fifth and another in the sixth, the Kings got back on the board in their share of the sixth. Galdoni led off with a double, which broke the team’s record with extra base hits with 27. Ryan picked up another base hit, brought home by Krizen’s 2-RBI single. The catcher took second on the first throw, but the second throw from catcher Ryan McCarthy went back to the sender out in centerfield, allowing Krizen to score for the third run.

Two more runs came in for Johnstown, with the last Kings run scoring in the eighth. It was once again Galdoni going yard for his twelfth home run. The first baseman, already breaking the team records for saves with six, the most RBI with 48, and tying the record with thirteen doubles, put himself in third place with the most home runs in a season ahead of Gehrig Anglin.

Gabe Phipps (Yorktown, IN; Butler) entered the ninth inning to close out the game, with Johnstown needing a win to get the playoffs but trailing 12-6. A leadoff single for Johnstown’s Damian Yenzi was all the Mill Rats could muster, as Champion City held on for the victory.

Along with Galdoni breaking the extra base hits record tonight, Ben Ross already broke the franchise’s record for hits in a single season. The Springfield, Ohio native also third in stolen bases with 19, needs two more to tie Eric Peterson for second. Ross has the runs record with 60, ten better than Jesse Hall’s 50 from the previous season. Galdoni’s six saves are the most, beating out John Becker’s five from 2015. Trey Carter and Tyberius Correa (Riverview, FL; Faulkner) have four wins each, with another winning decision for either putting them in a tie for second.

With Johnstown’s loss and Chillicothe’s sweep of West Virginia, it will be the Paints and Kings battling for the Division Championship. The winner will play the victor of Lafayette and Danville on Saturday.

Tickets are $5 for tonight’s Ohio River Valley Division Championship or you can watch tonight’s contest on PLTV. Visit championcitykings.com for more information.