By STEVE WALKER

swalker@MorningJournal.com

After a four hour and 37 minute season-opening loss on Thursday night against the Butler Blue Sox, the Ironmen had to be tired as they were set to have their season opener Friday night against the Chillicothe Paints at The Pipe Yard in Lorain.

The Paints showed they were the more energized team as a three-run homer by Ian Nielsen was the difference for Chillicothe, as the Paints defeated the Ironmen, 6-3 in the Ironmen’s Prospect League home opener in front of a season-opening crowd of 426.

Thursday night’s marathon in Pennsylvania ended in a 11-10 loss in 13 innings to the Blue Sox that officially started the season. The game had a combined 27 hits and 21 runs and lasted nearly five hours. The team arrived back in Lorain at 2:30 a.m. and most of them had long drives home, only to return to play Friday evening.

"I’m tired and I’m not playing," Ironmen manager Eric Cormell said. "These guys battled hard last night. It was a tough loss. They really fought and came back over and over. Tonight, walks, some costly errors and not swinging the bats with guys in scoring position cost us tonight. We dug ourselves a hole and weren’t able to get out of it.

"Basically we’re still coming together as a team. These guys have been working hard. They’re a little tired from last night. These guys were fighting lack of sleep and a little bit of chemistry, but we’re getting there. I see a lot of potential … It’s early on in the season and it happens, not to hit the panic button, we’ll be fine."

The Paints put up a four spot in the third inning, after a botched double-play ball fielded by second baseman Matt McAllester, who had trouble getting the ball out of his glove, only able to get the force out at second base. Cody Elliott made them pay as he lined an RBI single to right field to score Brandon White, who led off with a single and went to third on the fielder’s choice. Nielsen then hit a 3-2 pitch deep over the left center field fence for a three-run home run to score Torsten Boss, who reached on the fielder’s choice, and Elliot.

The Ironmen answered with a pair of runs in the bottom of the third inning to cut the deficit to 4-2 when McAllester hit an RBI single to score Austin Ingraham, who hit a one-out double. Anthony Brunetti then followed with an RBI single to score McAllester, who had stole second.

"We‘re not too worried about the way we started," said Ingraham, who didn‘t get home until 4 a.m. Friday morning. "Everyone‘s just learning to play together. We’re all getting our wood bat swings in tune. We’ve got a lot of talent. Our coaches know what they’re talking about so we’re real excited for the rest of the summer."

The Paints added two runs in the fifth when Boss, who doubled, scored from third on a wild pitch by Aaron Hilt. Elliott, who singled, then scored an RBI single by Holm to make it 6-2.McAllester got things started in the sixth inning when he bunted for a single on a 3-1 count. He went to second on a Brunetti ground out and went to third on a J.T. Feldkamp groundout, but then got caught trying to steal home. He raced home while pitcher Eric Heckaman was set to deliver and it appeared McAllester got a nice jump, but catcher Brandon White caught the pitch and applied the tag to a non-sliding McAllester.

"With two outs, you always want to try to gamble," McAllester said. "Last summer I pulled it off three times. First pitch he went in his windup and he was real slow and deliberate. I kind of gave coach a head nod and he gave it back to me and he gave me the go-ahead. So I gave it my best shot and I tried to steal home.

"We were all feeling pretty tired, but we still were getting after it. It’s rough to do that, but you gotta do it. You gotta bring your best the next night and that’s what we tried to do."

The Ironmen showed life in the eighth inning when McAllester, who went 3-for-3, hit an RBI single to left field to score Ingraham, who drew a one-out walk and moved to third on an Evan Melendez single. However, Melendez and James DiBiasio, who hit into a fielder’s choice were stranded on base when Feldkamp, who went 0-for-4, grounded out to third to end the rally and the inning.

Around the horn
• Westlake’s Matt McAllester, who went 3-for-3 on Friday night, is a combined 6-for-9 in the first two games.

• Amherst’s Evan Melendez is showing his second-year experience. He went 3-for-7 with three runs scored on Thursday and went 2-for-4 on Friday from his leadoff spot.

• Western Reserve’s Brandon Cantrill made his pitching debut in the ninth inning Friday night. He came on with with two outs and struck out the only batter he faced.

• Austin Ingraham is off to a good start. He went 1-for-3 on Thursday night and followed with a 2-for-2 with a double and a walk on Friday night.

• Former Lorain County Mr. Baseball and Admiral King graduate J.T. Feldkamp is off to a rough start. After going 0-for-6 on Thursday night, he went 0-for-4 last night. Last night was the first appearance for Feldkamp at the Pipe Yard since he was named Mr. Baseball in 2008.