Chillicothe Gazette from Chillicothe, Ohio • 9

SPORTS CALLS: (740) 772-9361 E-MAIL: gazsportschillicothegazette.com LOCAL SCORES FOUND ON YOUR PHONE Visit rn.ChillicotheGazette.com i HIGH SCHOOL GOLF Shermans get win against Vikings Reds still feel good despite sweep 6 THE GAZETTE STAFF Unioto's golf team started the season off with a swing in the right direction Wednesday with a win against Teays Valley at Fox Fire Golf Club. The Shermans finished with a score of 310, while the Vikings finished with a 340. ST. LOUIS CINCINNATI Final that were pretty obvious to our kids with club selection," Shermans coach Dan Drummond said. In the reserve match, Teays Valley finished with a score of 367 and Unioto had a 373.

Unioto travels to Piketon for the SVC Preview at 9 a.m. Friday. Drew Nichols led Unioto with a 74, followed by Josh Cushing's 77, Colton Forcum's 79 and Ricky Currier's 80. Michael Smart also had an 83 and Dallas Johnson finished at 84. "I was really pleased with the way we played.

We made a few mistakes that will get corrected Je pom Sty i r. ii ii a BY JOHN FAY The Cincinnati Enquirer CINCINNATI File this under "What did you expect them to say?" The Reds reminded everyone there's lots of baseball left this season and they're still in good shape after St Louis completed a three-game sweep with a 6-1 beating before a crowd of 33,364 on a steamy Wednesday afternoon at Great American Ball Park. The loss dropped Cincinnati a game behind the Cardinals in the NL Central. "We've been a game up, a game down all year," Scott Rolen said. "Would we have liked the outcome to be different? Yeah.

They outplayed us in the series. They threw their three top starters at us. They responded and pitched well. They swung the bats well. We'll move on and keep playing." Reds manager Dusty Baker echoed that.

"We're still in a very good position," he said. "As quickly as you get swept, you put on a sweep. That's the nature of this game." That is all well and good and true, but the past three days left the Reds dazed and confused. They were outhit 35-18 and outscored 21-8. Since June 21, Cincinnati is 0-7 against two of the three 2009 NL division winners (Philadelphia and Louis) and 27-9 against everyone else.

"Losing three to these guys takes a lot out of you physically and mentally because it was so hot, and having to grind at-bats against three of the best starters in the National son Arroyo said. It was not just losing. It was never leading in any game, losing after the brawl Tuesday and losing to the team you are like-' ly to battle until the end of the season. "They got all the hits when they needed them," Baker said. "They played good baseball all three days.

We had some guys hit the skids the last three days. We didn't play baseball like we've been playing." Brandon Phillips went 2-for-14 in the series; Jonny Gomes 0-for-ll; Rolen 0-for-10; Paul Janish l-for-10. The Reds managed a total of nine hits against Cardinals starters Chris Carpenter, Jaime Garcia and Adam Wainwright in 19 'A innings. Get used to it if you go to the postseason, Arroyo said. "It's closer to a playoff atmosphere," he said.

"That's what you're going to face. When you get down to the nuts and bolts, you don't expect anyone to throw their Nos. 4 and 5 guy at you. (Tony) La Russa's not stupid over there. They're going to juggle their guys.

They've got three of the best starters in the National League this year. It's going to make it tough on anybody's lineup. I knew going out there today that I needed to keep zeros on the board for six or seven innings to even have an opportunity to win. To get two runs off Wainwright was going to be tough." -'1 -f "III REDS, 2B League," starting pitcher Bron Photos by Frank Robertson, Gazette ABOVE: The Chillicothe Paints run to home plate after Ian Nielsen hit a two-run homer Wednesday to win the 2010 Prospect League championship at VA Memorial Stadium. BELOW: Chillicothe's Cody Elliott hits an RBI single in the bottom of the ninth inning to tie the game.

ft i "Mm. 1 1 David Kohl, AP St. Louis' Matt Holliday slides safely into home plate past Cincinnati catcher Ryan Hanigan during the seventh inning of Wednesday's game. St. Louis unleashes its fury on Cincinnati v.

HIM Nielsen's walkoff 2-run shot give Paints their first title CHILLICOTHE 7 DANVILLE 6 Final 11 inn. BY PHIL GRAY Gazette Sports Writer Ian Nielsen was just trying to move the runner over. At least, that's the way the at-bat worked out. On the first pitch, he was trying to crush one, but missed. On the second pitch, he was trying to bunt one, but fouled it off.

So, with his team down a run in the 1 1th inning with a runner on second, it came down to Nielsen just hoping tp do whatever he could to get Jeff Onstott from second base to third. He did more than He helped make history. After running the count to 2-2 against Danville reliever Andrew Walter, Nielsen unloaded on a fastball in the middle of the plate, shooting a home run over the wall in left center to give the 18-year-old Chillicothe Paints franchise its first-ever championship with a 7-6 win Wednesday against the Dans in the Prospect League title game. "Honestly, I didn't think it was gone," Nielsen said. "I started sprinting right after I hit it, thinking I might be able to get a double, maybe go to third if it was just right.

But then I heard the crowd, and I saw the umpire's finger go up. That's when I knew." Because then, it was official a championship finished off with walkoff flair. "What can you say after a game like that?" manager Brian Man-nino said. "What can you tell a team? All you can do is look at them and tell them how proud you are of them, because I really believe we deserved to win this." Deserving or not, the Paints were on the edge of their eighth cham- CINCINNATI So, Brandon Phillips. Any regrets? "We lost, and that's how it is," Phillips said Wednesday in a beaten-down Cincinnati clubhouse.

"What happened hap- did their job. We just didn't do ours." Is that a yes? MIKE LOPRESTI He is a Gannett sports columnist. He can be reached at mlopresti gannett.com. Three hot days in August with the St. Louis Cardinals and Cincinnati Or, how Phillips lit a pionship-round loss twice Wednesday.

After riding a lead into the fifth inning, Chillicothe starter Eric Heckaman allowed a grand slam to Danville's Alex Edward that turned everything around. It took a rally in the bottom of the ninth capped off when Cody Elliott singled home Onstott to tie the game at 5 to keep the Paints alive. It didn't get any easier from there. With two outs in the top of the 11th, Danville got a single by Austin Green before No. 9 hitter Cole Bieser worked a walk out of Blake Mascarello.

After Elliott took over on the mound for Chillicothe, Dans' leadoff hitter Sam Frost lined a single up the middle to score the go-ahead run to put the Paints in another do-or-die situation in the bottom of the inning. "I know we've talked about it all year, but I don't think there was ever any panic in our guys," Mannino said. "I think everybody was just like, 'OK, we're back to this again. Let's go get it It started with Onstott, who led off the bottom of the 1 1 th with a double off the wall in left, to set up Nielsen, who spent a lot of time before the first pitch looking at Mannino in the ooach's box at third base. "I thought he'd probably give me another bunt sign," said Nielsen, who had a critical bunt in the Paints' comeback in the ninth.

"He didn't give it to me, anr! in the back of my mind I was thinking I might get something to hit, and maybe get a double." He got a lot more than that. "You've got to take your hat off to him in that situation because he wasn't trying to do too much, but he did everything he could," Mannino said. "That's a guy who's came through for us all year." house, Tony La Russa is so exercised about Phillips, he responds, then pursues reporters after they leave his office to add some more. "Tell him he's ripping his own clubhouse," La Russa said, noting how the Cincinnati roster includes several former St. Louis employees.

Click. Phillips at his locker Tuesday, where he refuses to use a time-honored clubhouse custom; when the heat's on, claim to be misquoted. "I said those things and I really meant what I said. A lot of people feel that way. All throughout the league, many people feel that way." Click.

The St. Louis clubhouse and Skip Schumaker on Phillips, "That's the last thing 1 would do, first (place) or last. Especially first." Click. Home plate Tuesday, with Phillips leading off the first inning. He taps St.

Louis 1 catcher Yadier Molina on the shin guard, as he does every catcher. They are soon face to face, the benches empty, and pretty soon the entire throng ends up pressed against the backstop screen like a rugby scrum. Click. The Cardinals roll to an 8-4 win. Click.

La Russa: "1 know our guys. This is not the first time we've been challenged. There's times that you beat us, we're not good enough. But you're never going to scare us. We're never going to back down." Click.

Notice the gashes on Chris Carpenter's back, as if he had somersaulted into a cactus plant. "Super unprofessional," he LOPRESTI, 2B 45 PHOTOS Baseball, Prospect League Championship Series ChillicotheGazette.com Bengals awaiting word on injuries feud, and possibly changed the course of the NL Central pennant race, with one blog entry. Perhaps you noticed the big baseball to-do this week in Cincinnati. The Cardinals went from two games back of the Reds to a game ahead, outscoring diem 21-8 and never trailing one moment in a three-game showdown that turned into a Jerry Springer Show. We can look at the series in a photography slide show.

It's like watching a hurricane form. Click. This is Monday. Reds second baseman Phillips is welcoming the Cardinals to town for the biggest series here in a decade, with greetings given to a Dayton Daily News blogger. "Ihate the Cardinals.

All they do is bitch and moan about everything, all of them." He also added an unflattering noun or two. Click. The Cardijials score six runs on 12 pitches in the fourth inning to win 7-3. Click. In the St.

Louis club ASSOCIATED PRESS GEORGETOWN, Ky. The Cincinnati Bengals aren't sure how long running back Brian Leonard will miss because of an injured left foot. Leonard hurt the foot during a 16-7 loss to Dallas in the Hall of Fame game on Saturday. Leonard, the Bengals' top pass-catching threat out of the back-field, initially feared he had torn ligaments and might have to miss the season. Coach Marvin Lewis said Wednesday he's optimistic Leonard will be able to play at same point during the season.

I le ing. He started only one game last season, then had surgery on the foot. He has been slow to recover and showed up for camp out of shape. Smith hasn't been cleared to practice. I Ie's working out apart from his teammates.

In a rare display of frustration with a player, Lewis said he could decide to have the lineman open the season on the physically unable to perform list, a move that would cost him part of his salary. "Whenever he gets to where I want him, that's when we'll have him," Lewis said. "He's being monitored hourly." said it will be a couple more weeks before the team has a better idea how long it will take to heal. "There's nothing that says he would be out for the year or on (injured reserve), so we'll go from there," Lewis said. Leonard led the Bengals' running backs with 30 catches in 2009 19 of them on third down.

The Bengals also are waiting on offensive tackle Andre Smith to get into shape. Smith was a first-round pick in 2009, but missed training camp in a contract holdout and broke his left foot two days after report.