Archive for July, 2011

The Mahoning Valley Scrappers took advantage of some early run production and rode their solid pitching and defense to the finish line in a 6-1 victory over State College.  The Scrappers scored five times in the first four innings and never looked back.  State College scored their lone run of the game in the top of the ninth inning.

Will Roberts was the starting pitcher for Mahoning Valley.  He threw four solid innings of shutout baseball, but unfortunately needed to go five innings to get the win.  The gift win was given to Harold Guerrerro who started the fifth inning with a 5-0 lead.  Guerrerro proved worthy to get the “W” as he threw four solid innings of scoreless baseball as well.

Four different Scrappers drove in runs with Tony Wolters and John Barr collecting a pair of RBI’s each.  Wolters finished the game 2-4, and Barr was 1-3 with a sacrifice fly.  State College did themselves no favors as their pitchers hit three Scrappers.  Jordan Smith was beaned his first two times at-bat (above photo).

Perhaps the most impressive ingredient of baseball that the Scrappers flashed in the win was the solid fundamental defense.  Routine plays were nightmares for State College, but Mahoning Valley was doing some pretty special stuff on defense seemingly every inning.  In the above photo, the Scrappers SS, Tony Wolters, had enough smarts to stop a ball in the hole and fire to third to take down the lead runner in a one-out situation early on.  3B Evan Frazar was waiting and the timing was perfect to eliminate the runner.  Jordan Smith threw a runner out at home from right field on a beautiful throw.  It was a great performance by the Scrappers.

“I was really pleased with our pitching tonight”, commented Manager David Wallace.  “Will Roberts was tough on their hitters and [Harold] Guerrerro came in and performed exceptionally tonight.”

Will Roberts

The Scrappers and Spikes wrap up their short series on Wednesday night at Eastwood Field.  Mahoning Valley is 4-0 against State College at home this season.

One Scrapper who was on the fast track has been slowed recently.  KC Serna took a line drive to the face in Jamestown while the team was on the road.  Wallace said that they are waiting for Serna to be cleared and that there is a small fracture with some bone sediment loose.

A quality Summer Baseball Camp is being offered at Eastwood Field from August 8-10.  The camp is designed to introduce young players the aspects and fundamentals of baseball.  Rich Pasquale, YSU’s head baseball coach, and Craig Antush, a YSU assistant, will host the camp.

The areas of specialization to be covered at the camp are fielding, throwing, hitting, base running and pitching.  The camp is offered to anyone between the ages of 6-14, and kids will be grouped within their own age bracket.  During the hitting and pitching sessions, all campers will be videotaped on Monday and Wednesday.

There are three separate option to choose from:

Option 1: The cost for this package is $125.  This selection includes fielding, throwing, base running, and hitting.  It also includes the videotaping that will take place Monday and Wednesday.  Daily time of this choice is 9 a.m. – Noon.

Option 2: The cost for this package is $60.  This selection will cover pitching only.  It also includes the Monday and Wednesday videotaping sessions.  The time for pitching camp only is 12:30 p.m. – 2 p.m.

Option 3: The cost for this package is $150.  This selection runs from 9 a.m. – 2 p.m. all three days and is simply a combination of the first two packages at a discounted rate.  The videotaping on Monday and Wednesday is included and attendees choosing this option will need to bring a lunch each day.

The camp is not affiliated with the Mahoning Valley Scrappers or Youngstown State University.  It is just at the field where the Scrappers play and will be conducted by two very good instructors who happen to coach baseball at YSU.

To pre-register, contact the Scrappers at 330-505-0000, Craig Antush at 330-539-4577 or e-mail cjantush@ysu.edu for more details..

Al Kaline was recently at a Mahoning Valley Scrappers game to watch his grandson, Colin Kaline, in action.  Colin is in the Tigers organization, playing for the Connecticut Tigers, the short-season A affiliate for Detroit.

Al Kaline is in Cooperstown, never played a day of minor league baseball in his life, and has some weird coincidences with Derek Jeter.  Kaline played his entire 22-year career with the Detroit Tigers.  “Mr. Tiger” is still working for the organization as a front office figure.

Derek Jeter picked up his 3,000th hit recently to join a crowd of less than 30 players on a very elite list.  Al Kaline was the 12th player in Major League Baseball history to accomplish that fete.  Here is where it gets weird… Kaline picked up his 3,000th hit in Baltimore on September 24, 1974.  Derek Jeter was born in Baltimore  in 1974. Kaline finished with 3,007 career hits.  As of this writing, Derek Jeter has 3,007 hits.  Sometimes timing is everything.

Paneech: What is Al Kaline doing in his spare time these days?

Al Kaline: I’m still working for the Tigers.  I am an Assistant to the President and go to the games.  I travel a little bit to Erie and Toledo and, of course, Lakeland.  I have a home down there in Florida.  Basically, I do whatever the president wants me to do. The owner is a good friend of mine.  I had been broadcasting the games for about 20 years and when the new owners came in, they asked me to go into the front office and give my opinions.  I told him that they may not like my opinions, but I assured them that I would give them my opinion nonetheless.

Paneech: Your grandson, Colin Kaline (above), is in the organization now.  Is it weird coming to smaller venues to watch him?

Kaline: Actually, this is all new to me because I never played minor-league baseball.  I hadn’t had a chance to see my grandson play much.  He is like most guys in this league, they have a lot to learn and a lot of adjusting to do.  Some will do it, some won’t.  He is under a lot of pressure because of his name, but he handles it well, he is a great kid and was a great student.  Whatever he does, he is going to be successful. It may not be baseball, but he is going to do well.

Paneech: I would think he will receive some support because of his name in the Detroit organization.

Kaline: He wants to play baseball.  I tell all of these kids that they are blessed.  How many billions of kids have wanted to sign professionally and never did.  These kids are signed and have that chance to go somewhere with it.  How far they go?  Nobody knows.  But, they should really see it as a tremendous honor that they were signed professionally.

Colin finished the game 2-4 with a pair of doubles.  Afterwards he commented on his last name.  “I don’t feel the pressure so much.  I know people are going to be more critical, but I am just having fun, learning and playing the game.  It’s been fun so far.  My grandfather rarely pulls me to the side to give me pointers, he lets me do my own thing and knows I am having fun.”

The Mahoning Valley Scrappers withstood a late Jamestown Jammers comeback attempt and won in extra innings, 6-5, to move into a tie for first place in the Pinckney Division.

Mahoning Valley scored three runs in the top of the fifth inning to take a 3-0 lead.  Alex Lavisky (above) homered to start the scoring, his second home run for the Scrappers this season.

Jamestown scored two in the bottom of the sixth inning to cut the lead to 3-2, and the score remained that way going into the top of the ninth inning.

The Scrappers added two runs in the ninth to take a 5-2 lead, but Enosil Tejeda allowed three runs in the bottom of the ninth inning to send the game into extra innings.

Mahoning Valley scored a run in the top of the 11th on a sacrifice fly by Todd Hankins, and Nate Striz pitched a scoreless inning in the bottom of the 11th to give the Scrappers the win.

Tejeda picked up the victory to improve to 2-2.  Relief pitcher Curtis Petersen picked up the loss for the Jammers to fall to 2-2.  Striz earned his first save of the season.

The Scrappers and Jammers will conclude their three-game series on Monday night at 7:05 pm.

Last year at this time, Kurt Hess was adapting.  The changes he was dealing with were a transition from high school to college, playing in a new system for a new coach, and learning what his teammates could and could not handle.  Hess was named the starting quarterback before the season started and played mature beyond his years.  He has earned the respect of his coaches, teammates, and fans, and will continue to work hard to improve.

Paneech: You have a year under your belt and know the system, are the expectations higher this season?

Hess: I got a lot of good experience last season and have a great working relationship with Coach Wolford and Coach Montgomery.  We work well together and we bounce ideas off of each other.  We kind of know what to expect now and need to refine things.  Coach Montgomery will sit in the film room with me and analyze different aspects and mechanics and question why I did or didn’t do something.  As much as they have helped me, you should see some results this year.

Paneech: During the Spring, there were problems with receivers dropping the ball.  Additionally, last year this team was about 50/50 on a run pass ratio.  Can we expect more running this season?

Hess: I don’t believe we will be one-dimensional.  We have a good enough running game that we probably could be one-dimensional, but our receivers are working really hard to get better.  We come in a couple of times a week and do some seven-on-seven drills and we usually throw every night to get the timing right.  With the new guys, there is a lot of raw talent.  I am developing more confidence with them and I can see a big improvement from the Spring already.  We are building chemistry and trust, and that is so important.  It is what Dominique [Barnes] and I had last season.

Paneech: What have you been doing in the offseason?

Hess: I try to find friends who have a pool, I really like swimming in the Summer.  I haven’t been to a Scrappers game yet, but I have made it to Cleveland to see the Indians.  I like going to Boardman and hitting the mall.  I am starting to get into my education classes and am really focusing on how to be a better role model and teacher for the kids.

Paneech: Last season you were immediately thrown into the fire at Penn State, and you guys played respectably.  This year it is off to Michigan State, what should we expect?

Hess: We need to have a good showing at Michigan State, and I think we will.  Last year it was a new era coming in at Youngstown State with a new coach.  We were thinking about at least scoring a touchdown and putting a few points on the board.  This year, we want to put more points on the board than they [Michigan State] do.  I think that is what we need to, and are going to do.

Paneech: One of the biggest areas of turnover was offensive line.  Eric Rodemoyers don’t grow on trees.  Do you feel like you might be scrambling a bit more this season?

Hess: We brought in some pretty big guys who have been working really hard and have increased their strength.  We have some veterans in D. J. Main and Andrew Radakovich who have been here for three or four years.  I still feel secure and have an automatic sense of trust for these guys.  Scrambling is part of the game, and although I don’t anticipate doing too much of it, I consider myself somewhat slippery.

Paneech: With all of the new arrivals, have the veteran members of the team set up events to get the rookies feeling like they are a part of everything?

Hess: It’s not really any one gathering or one function.  We go out to Quaker Steak And Lube on Tuesday nights for the all-you-can-eat wings and we make sure that the new linemen go and get fed.  We play some pool basketball and had a swimming workout last week.  We all live pretty close together, so we are always playing NCAA or watching a movie.  There is a lot of contact and they are getting familiar with all of us.  We recruited a lot of raw talent, and you need that to compete in this conference.  I have not seen any of the new guys get lazy or cut a corner on anything yet.

Paneech: What, if any, bad habits have you formed over the past year that you need to fix?

Hess: One area I need to get better at is being a better practice player.  There are a lot of times when practice is not going how we would like it to go, and someone needs to get a first down or make some plays.  As a quarterback, and a leader, I need to be the person who can step up and make those things happen.  Practice will run much better if I make the effort to execute better.  I need to be the guy in a game that can make a big play on a 3rd and 12, or have to be able to scramble.  Last year there were guys bailing me out.  Barnes did, [Adaris] Bellamy did, Jamaine [Cook] did, it goes on and on.  Coming back as a veteran, I need to make more plays.

Paneech: Does Coach Montgomery, as a quarterbacks coach and offensive coordinator, feel like you have a grasp on the offense?

Hess: Coach Montgomery is comfortable with me that I think he may give me more freedom than I had last season.  We are very comfortable with each other.  I trust his calls, as he trusts mine.  There will be things that change from week-to-week, but we do communicate well and we are both big Cincinnati Reds fans.

Paneech: The Reds are in trouble.

Hess: All we need is a solid month.

Paneech:  Scott Rolen is all banged up and your pitching is weak.  [Edinson] Volquez and [Johnny] Cueto are horrible, I don’t see it.  Not this year.  They will need to reincarnate Eric Davis and Barry Larkin to have a shot with that staff.

Hess: (laughs) No, you are wrong.

Paneech: Any tattoo shops around here that are going to get Wolf in trouble?  What is your take on the Ohio State fallout?

Hess: I think it is a tough situation.  There were things that did not fall into the NCAA guidelines and Coach Tressel may have been put in a bad situation.  In my opinion, he has always been a players coach and always took care of his players like they were his own kids.  It may go on other places, but that kind of stuff, like the tattoos, isn’t really an issue here, it doesn’t exist.  We have a great staff and advisors who communicate well with Coach Wolford.  We sign papers that say we are not going to do this, this, and this.  As far as I am concerned, nobody here has done anything.

Connecticut escaped Niles with a win and avoided being swept by the Mahoning Valley Scrappers, posting a 7-4 win at Eastwood Field.  The Tigers strung together good things in a row during a couple of different innings.  The Tigers got three hits from Curt Casali, including a monstrous home run, and a couple of doubles from Colin Kaline in the win.  The Scrappers kept battling back, but ultimately dug a hole too deep to climb out of.

“Our goal is to win the series and we went for a sweep tonight”, commented Scrappers Manager David Wallace.  “Both teams played hard and we just made one more mistake than they did.  They capitalized on it like good teams do.”

For the Scrappers, Jordan Smith (below) stayed hot collecting a couple more hits and knocking in the first two Scrapper runs.  Smith extended his hitting streak to eleven games with the hits.

Wallace talked about Smith and the productivity he has been putting out.  “Jordan has put together good at-bats for us all year.  He works hard and prepares himself.  He doesn’t try to do too much, but when the situation calls for it, he opens it up a little bit and lets it fly.  When he gets down in a two-strike count, he is one of the best at battling and getting the barrel on the ball.”

The Scrappers scored a pair of runs in the first when KC Serna and Tony Wolters consecutively walked on four pitches each.  After both runners moved up a bag, Smith laced a single for the 2-0 Scrappers lead.

Scrappers starter Will Roberts, making his first start of the year pitched two innings.  The decision was premeditated by the coaching staff to give Roberts two innings or roughly 40 pitches in his debut.  Danny Jimenez relieved Roberts to start the third and took the tough loss, exiting the game down only one run.

In the sixth inning, the Tigers got back-to-back doubles from Zach Maggard and Kaline to take a 3-2 lead.  In the bottom half of the inning, the Scrappers reclaimed the lead Evan Frazar singled to knock in Jake Lowery and then Cody Elliott drew a base on balls with the sacks full forcing home Alex Lavisky to go ahead 4-3.

The Scrappers lost the lead when PJ Polk laid down a perfect bunt up the first base line that was errantly thrown into right field.  Jason King then doubled to knock in two with a bases-loaded double.  Jason Holm then hit a sacrifice fly to right to put the Tigers in front 6-4.  They would add a run in the ninth.  New Scrapper Henry Dunn was giving chase to a ball that was hit to the right-center field wall.  Dunn had a nasty collision with the fence and stayed down for a minute but eventually popped up and stayed in the game.  Eugenio Suarez ended up with a triple on the great effort by Dunn.  Suarez would trot in on a sac fly by King to give the Tigers a 7-4 lead.

The Scrappers hit the road for a three-game set with Jamestown.  Bryson Myles is almost ready to return from a pulled hamstring injury that has kept him out of action all week.   Aaron Siliga, who rolled an ankle, should also be ready to roll within the next couple of days.

The Mahoning Valley Scrappers overcame four runs in the first inning by the Connecticut Tigers and came from behind to win, 9-6.

Mahoning Valley answered with three runs in the bottom of the first to cut the deficit to 4-3. Connecticut scored in the fourth inning to make it 5-3, but again the Scrappers answered to make it 5-4.

The Scrappers scored five runs in the sixth inning to take the lead. Todd Hankins singled in two runs and Cody Elliott (above) doubled in two more to make it 9-5.

Connecticut scored a run in the eighth inning to make it 9-6, but the Scrappers held the Tigers scoreless in the ninth inning.

The Scrappers and Tigers will play game three of their series on Friday night at 7:05 pm.

Scrapper fans got a little treat at Eastwood Field Wednesday.  Indians Prospect, Jeanmar Gomez, made a start in preparation to join the Indians after the break.  Gomez is rumored to be taking the place of Mitch Talbot in the Indians rotation.  Talbot is having arm problems and has been placed on the DL.  Gomez pitched four innings but did not factor into the decision as the Scrappers won, 2-1, to take the series opener against Connecticut.

“I felt good, I tried to work on all of my pitches”, remarked Gomez after the game.  “There is a lot of good energy with these players here, and that’s a good think for the organization.  They play hard and do the best that they can.  I told them that they have to learn something every day while they are here, make the effort to pick something new up every chance you get.“

Manager David Wallace didn’t see Gomez as a distraction, but rather a benefit, to his club.  “It’s a great thing, these guys got to see the way that Jeanmar prepared for his start.  They see the way he went out there and attacked the hitters with his fastball.  He is not Fausto Carmona with fantastic stuff, but to his credit, he knows how to pitch.  I’ll be interested to see what this team took from it.”

Gomez threw hard in his four innings of work.  He gave up five hits and one earned run while striking out three Tigers.  Gomez’s appearance will not live up to an Asdrubal Cabrera rehab appearance last season, but it is always nice when the big club sends the talent to Niles for a day, and the crowd of 2,611 surely appreciated their chance to watch the hard-throwing pitcher. Gomez, below with Scrappers catcher Alex Lavisky, is on the cusp of bigger things, very soon.

The Tigers were not intimidated by Gomez as they plated the first run of the game in the fourth.  Patrick Leyland, son of Jim Leyland, singled home Jeff Holm off of Gomez to put Connecticut ahead 1-0.

The Scrappers tied the game in the bottom of the fifth.  Cody Elliott singled and moved to third when Tony Wolters singled.  Elliott would trot home from third when Jake Lowery singled to pick up his eleventh RBI of the season.

Joseph Colon, who usually starts games for the Scrappers, entered the game to start the fifth and pitched very well.  Colon worked five scoreless innings in picking up the win in relief of Gomez.

New Scrapper, Evan Frazar singled to start the ninth.  Elliott bunted Frazar to second and then the new guy showed his wheels taking third.  KC Serna (above) knocked Frazar in with a clean single over the second baseman’s head to give the Scrappers the nice win.

Serna has embraced the hero role a lot lately and Wallace thinks it can get contagious.  “We preach quality at-bats whether we are up five or down five.  Be a better hitter with two strikes and make contact.  These guys are doing a good job battling right now.”

With a Main Event in place for the August 6 boxing card at the Covelli Centre, the undercard remains sketchy.  The fight will be televised on ShoBox, Showtime’s boxing affiliate.  ShoBox isn’t HBO Championship Boxing, but is a major media outlet with a loyal viewership.  To ensure a good crowd, Bob Arum and the fine folks at Top Rank would be wise to load the card with Youngstown area talent.

Jack Loew and Kelly Pavlik had their Ghost Promotions inaugural offering card in a parking lot at the Covelli Centre.  There were some competitive and entertaining fights on the card that drew about 1,500 with no fighter on the card in the Top-10 of any rankings list.  The reason why so many people showed up was because they knew the fighters, they were relatives or they were friends, and they respect the local boxing beat.  The attendance would not have been any different if the fights would have not been as good as they were.

With proven A-level talent like Pavlik, a more than fair amount of seats can expect to be sold.  However, when mixing in all of those friends and relatives of potential undercard locals, you have a better shot at packing the house.  I have always thought a good crowd made a televised event more exciting to watch.

The reality of the situation is that the television revenue will not be as high with ShoBox coverage than it would be with HBO.  There will be less money to split making it harder to bring in names of national recognition.  By employing the very capable local fighters such as Chris Hazimihailis, Marco Hall, Anthony Pietrantonio, Dannie Williams (above), and Juan Salinas, the crowd automatically doubles.  It’s not rocket science.

Tickets for the event go on sale Friday, July 15.

Drew LaFollette is another busybody with more than one responsibility working for the Mahoning Valley Scrappers.  LaFollette, a Bowling Green grad from Toledo, likes the area and is part of a close-knit group of folks who work hard behind the scenes to make the Scrappers games an enjoyable outing for all who attend.  Probably his most interesting function is lining players up with host families.

Paneech: This year it seems like you kind of oversee what other people are doing in the sound room during games.

LaFollette: We have all spent a lot of time around each other and everybody here knows what they are doing.  Nothing is really new to any of them, it’s just a matter of keeping everybody on a schedule.  If there are changes, we just communicate them through everybody so that we all know what and when something will be different than scheduled.  It’s fairly easy as long as everyone is on board and aware of what they are doing.

Paneech: What is your official title and what duties fall under your care?

LaFollette: Officially, I am a production intern.  I also help out with marketing and the website and handle the Facebook and Twitter duties.  I also put together our host family program.  The host family thing can be tricky because you are dealing with the players and the families that they will be staying with.  I am like a middle man. Host families have certain qualities that they may be looking for, such as transportation.  There are really no hassles though and both sides are very cooperative.

Paneech: What could you see yourself doing if you were not working for the Scrappers?

LaFollette: Honestly?  I worked in a bank for a few years, and really couldn’t stand that nine-to-five routine. I like the unpredictability and wildness of the unexpected as compared to a standard routine type of job.  I am not sure what I would be doing, but hopefully it would be something like this.  What I do involves a lot of work, but we see our results right away and I am not sure of what I would be doing if not this.