Archive for July, 2011

Being at most home Mahoning Valley Scrappers games is enjoyable for the most part.  I have been blessed to meet some very good people and have a great time reporting what I am watching on the field.  I had an experience this past Tuesday however, that I will not forget anytime soon.  It involved filling in for Craig Antush, the official scorekeeper at the lions share of Scrapper home games.

It all started when Heather Sahli, who works for the Scrappers personnel department, asked me if I would be able to keep the book on Monday.  Former GM, Dave Smith, was asked but did not reply.  Having kept the book as a coach for years while I coached Pony League Baseball, I figured the numbers have not changed and it would not be a problem.  About three days later, I got a thank you-but never mind- e-mail because Smith did call back saying he would be able to do the duty.

The next day, I get an e-mail saying that YSU Sports Information Director, Trevor Parks, who was supposed to do the book on Sunday and Tuesday, was unable to show due to a family matter.  At this point, I was asked to fill in on those two days.  I obliged, how hard could it be?

Mr. Antush left a detailed set of directions in the press box.  The first interesting thing I had to do was give a weather report to Minor League Baseball via telephone an hour and a half before the game.  When I called, I introduced myself to a guy named Jeff who seemed less than thrilled to be working on a Sunday.  I introduced myself and gave him the starting lineups for both teams.  He then asked me how the weather was.  I told him it was “nice outside today”.  Mistake #1 – The man wanted to know how hard the wind was blowing and from which direction.  After that he needed a temperature and a general forecast.  OK, once I was done being Don Guthrie, I had an hour and a half to kill before the first pitch.

Once Sunday’s game started, I realized that I was charting pitches, counting balls and strikes, and doing the official book.  Every half inning a call was to be made to “Jeff” to give him the results for each batter that inning.  I also had to watch for substitutions and pitching changes.  After seven total runs were scored by both teams in the first inning, I knew I was in for it.

With that being said, the rest of Sunday’s game went smooth.  I waited for the box score in the pressroom, as my instructions said to do.  Looking at my directions sheet, it clearly said to leave four copies in the pressbox for media, and to bring three copies to the visiting clubhouse, then three to the Scrappers clubhouse.  No problems, no objections, no mistakes – mission accomplished, and I was 50% through it.

Tuesday was the third game of a series with State College.  The Scrappers rolled the first two games and State College was struggling, sitting in last place of the divisional standings.  I settled in early, played Al Roker again, and geared up for the first pitch.  Then the fun started.

In the first inning of the Sunday game, Alex Lavisky was up with runners on first and second, one out.  Lavisky hit a towering pop-up about 20 feet behind the first baseman.  The second baseman was sliding over, the right fielder was charging, the first baseman was retreating, and the sun was bright.  The second baseman came close to catching the pop, but dropped it.  Mistake #2 – I ruled it a base hit. This drew criticism from nearly everyone in the press box, I just felt he was battling too many things to make a catch, so I ruled it a hit.

In the very next inning, Todd Hankins was batting.  He hit a lazy bloop of a one hopper to the second baseman.  The fielder chose to back up and play the ball on a more natural arc off of its hop.  He booted the ball.  Mistake #3 – E4.  Nobody groveled over this one until after the game.  The rest of the game was a scorekeepers nightmare complete with about six more errors, a rundown, balls hitting the backstop, and substitutions galore.

When the game ended, I called Jeff, who still sounded like he got woken up when the phone rang.  I gave him the attendance, time of game, and other useful things he needed.  I got the box scores from Grant Tunkel and headed toward the clubhouse.  When I entered the State College locker room, the coaches were tucked in a corner.  I politely said, “Excuse me, here are the box scores, I will wait if you want to look them over”.  (Keep in mind, they just got swept.)  One of the coaches was eating a piece of chicken with his shirt off.  Another was hammering away at a laptop on a chair, and a third was staring at the lights or something on the ceiling the whole time I was in there.  The intense laptop user asked me how I could have awarded a base hit to Lavisky.  I pleaded my case about the sun, the other fielders, the non-routine elements of the play. He scowled. Mistake #4 – Never debate a coach on a ruling.

After I was told I was wrong by the State College Staff, I entered the Mahoning Valley locker room to discuss the objection with David Wallace, Greg Hibbard, and Tony Mansolino.  They agreed, it was an error, not a hit.  I immediately called to awaken Jeff again to tell him of my error, being an error, and not a hit.  He scowled.

Once that was done and I thought I could go home, Coach Wallace said, we want to question a call you made on Hankins’ grounder to second.  We feel he was fast enough to beat that out, even if it was fielded cleanly.  Fair enough.  So I had to go back into the State College locker room.  Coach Laptop was still mad at my first visit when I got in there.  I told them what the problem was, they debated for a moment then agreed that I could score that a hit instead of an error.  I got the joy of calling Jeff at Castle Grayskull yet again.  Mistake #5 – Call all objections in at once.  Jeff scowled again.

I would do it again in a pinch, but the nightmare I had behind the mall that night took about eight hours off of my life.  Back to doing what I can handle.  Welcome back, Craig!

Anthony Pietrantonio hopes the worst is behind him.  Friday night at the Covelli Centre, Pietrantonio (above, left) broke a losing streak of six with a good win over Randy Campbell via TKO in the fourth round.  Pietrantonio (7-7), now training under Jack Loew, may see bigger things if he can remain successful and win a few more at the 175-pound weight class.

This fight had no holding, but rather was a constant exchange of punches from the opening bell until it ended in the fourth.  Campbell, fighting out of Zanesville, landed the first big punches of the fight less than a minute into the first round.  Pietrantonio would knock Campbell down by the end of the opening round and the appreciative crowd knew that these two guys were in a war.

In the fourth round, Campbell was floored with a short right uppercut, and the referee stopped the contest at 2:14 mark.  Pietrantonio had Campbell pinned against the ropes for a good thirty seconds and threw everything he had at him to force the stoppage in what was a very good, crowd-pleasing battle.

“He was a little tougher than I expected and he wore me out more than I thought he could have”, remarked Pietrantonio afterwards.  “I thought it was over in the first and unloaded a lot of useless energy trying to finish him, give him credit for hanging in there.”

I like the 33 year old Pietrantonio.  He is a marketable product who was in very good shape.  Under the watchful eye of Loew, who knows what he may be able to accomplish?

The Mahoning Valley Scrappers and Batavia Muckdogs combined for 23 runs,  28 hits, and 8 errors.  When the dust cleared, the Scrappers pulled out a wild 12-11 win in the bottom of the ninth.  KC Serna came through with a bases-loaded hit to give the Scrappers a crazy 12-11 win over a resilient Batavia team.

Batavia scored three in the top of the first, as they did last night.  The Muckdogs used four hits, a hit batter, and a throwing error to formulate the three runs.  Roberto Reyes, Jeremy Patton, Romulo Ruiz, and Juan Castillo hit singles for Batavia off of Scrapper starter Harold Guerrero.  Guerrero struggled to throw strikes and when he did Batavia was hitting them.

Also like last night, the Scrappers scored a run in the bottom of the first to cut Batavia’s lead to 3-1.  Tony Wolters and KC Serna drew back-to-back one out walks.  With Alex Lavisky at the plate, the runners both moved up a bag on a double steal.  The Batavia catcher threw the ball past the covering second baseman allowing Wolters to score.  One run on no hits for Mahoning Valley.

After Guerrero settled down and struck out two of the three Muckdogs he faced in the second inning, Mahoning Valley went to work in the bottom of the second against Batavia starter Patrick Daugherty.  John Barr walked with one out.  Kevin Fontanez reached on an error by the third baseman.  Cody Elliott then smacked a double to the base of the left field wall bringing home Barr.  Bryson Myles (below) then hit a slow grounder to short allowing Fontanez to touch the plate and tie the game.  Wolters drilled a shot back up the box that deflected off of Daugherty’s foot and rolled toward Batavia’s dugout.  Elliott raced home to give the Scrappers a 4-3 lead after two innings.

In the third, the Scrappers went ahead 5-3 when John Barr collected his first hit as a Scrapper which drove in Todd Hankins.  Hankins reached on a single.  Fontanez brought home Barr with a line single to right to increase the Scrappers lead to 6-3.  That would be it for Batavia starter Daugherty who gave up five earned runs, one unearned run, and walked three Scrappers in 2 2/3 innings.

New Batavia pitcher Sean Watson was greeted rudely as Myles singled home a seventh Scrappers run in the third.

Batavia tied the game in the fourth at 7-7.  Guerrero faced two Muckdogs before being pulled in favor of Tony Dischler,who could not record an out before allowing Batavia to tie the game.  Batavia took an 8-7 lead when Dischler unloaded a wild pitch later in Batavia’s five-run fourth inning.

The Scrappers scored five times in the bottom of the sixth to take an 11-8 lead.  With one out, Wolters and Serna hit back-to-back singles and moved up a base when new Batavia pitcher Travis Miller hit Lavisky on a 2-0 count.  With the sacks full, Jordan Smith (above) hit a chopper about ten feet from where he was batting and everyone was safe to tie the game.  Miller unleashed a wild pitch to allow Serna in with the lead run.  Hankins reached on an error by Batavia to reload the bases.  Barr came through with a clean single to right.

Batavia battled back to tie the game with two runs in the seventh and another in the eighth.

In the bottom of the ninth, Elliott drew a one out walk.  Myles then hit a rocket single that moved Elliott to third setting the stage Serna who delivered with the game-winner.

Jake Giuriceo went into Friday’s bout against Winston Mathis hoping to get good work in preparation for a hedlining gig at Cene Park in August.  Giuriceo got his wish defeating Mathis by unanimous decision in their six round Jr. Welterweight contest.  Mathis was not a punching bag though and did give The Bull problems at times.

Giuriceo was the aggressor most of the fight and dictated both the pace and the action from almost bell to bell, every round.  Mathis caught a strong Giuriceo left hook about halfway through round three which triggered an arsenal of shots by Giuriceo over the last minute of the third.  By the end of the fourth, Giuriceo was tagging Mathis with some serious body shots, doubling over the Georgia native more than once.

The judges awarded Giuriceo (12-0-1) the decision with score of 60-54, 59-55, and 59-55.  The Campbell, Ohio fighter was sharp in his scoring made good decisions and was well trained for the contest.  Credit to Keith Burnside (below) and Joseph Corvino for keeping Giuriceo very focused in the days leading up to this match.

A very spiritual person, Giuriceo wore trunks that had “Jesus” name everywhere and in different colors and thanked God after the fight for getting through it without harm.

“He was a very tough opponent and knew when to hold and not to hold, I was surprised”, Commented Giuriceo afterwards.  “My heart made the difference.  I was standing there thinking, man, should I keep bouncing with this dude? He was a very tough opponent.  I feel really tuned up and ready for August.”

Giuriceo will headline an outdoor card at Cene Park on August 13.  When details become available, you can read them here.

The Mahoning Valley Scrappers got an uncharacteristically bad night from the pitching staff in an 8-3 loss to Batavia.  The Scrappers unloaded three wild pitches, walked seven, and hit two batters.  Combine that with three Scrapper errors, all adding up to result in most of Batavias scoring.  An energetic crowd of 3,102 saw the Muckdogs bat through their order five times.

Batavia put a three spot up in the top of the first inning off of Scrappers starter Joseph Colon.  Four consecutive hits and a bases loaded walk to Nick Martini put the home team into an unwanted early hole.

The Scrappers answered with a run of their own in the bottom of the first.  Bryson Myles stayed hot with a leadoff single and moved to second on a Tony Wolters sacrifice bunt.  Jake Lowery then stepped in and drilled an RBI double scoring Myles from second to cut the deficit to 3-1.

Jeremy Patton trotted home with another run for the Muckdogs in the third on a fielders choice.  Colon was struggling with his control throughout his 81 pitch effort.  The Scrappers hurler would get yanked after 3 2/3 innings and seems like he is either off or extremely effective with no mediocrity in four home starts.

Trailing 4-1, one swing of the bat brought the Scrappers a run closer in the sixth inning.  Wolters (above) connected for a home run to right-center that almost hit the scoreboard.  The inning would not end until Mahoning Valley added another run when Lowery was plated by an Alex Lavisky ground rule double to left that one-hopped the wall to make it a 4-3 Muckdogs lead.  Lowery walked earlier in the frame.

Joey Bergman led off the seventh for Batavia and hit a clean single to right.  The ball was misplayed by Myles in right  and got by him allowing Bergman to scamper to third base.  Scrapper reliever Nate Stitz uncorked a wild pitch allowing Bergman a free pass home to increase the Batavia lead to 5-3.

“It’s all a part of the process”, commented Scrapper manager David Wallace after the game.  “These guys will put this one behind them and get back at it tomorrow.”

The Scrappers left a pair of runners on in the eighth and were too far behind to catch up in the ninth.  These two teams will play the second half of the mini two-game series on Sunday.  First pitch at Eastwood Field is set for 5:05 p.m.

Dannie Williams sat in his locker stall with a dejected look on his face after his unanimous ten round victory shaking his head.  If you didn’t see the fight, you would have thought Williams lost, based on his reaction.  Truth of the matter is that Oscar Cuero, a grizzly veteran, had such an unorthodox style that Williams struggled at times to land good shots consistently.  I had the fight scored 97-93 for Williams who came out blazing and then struggled with Cuero for the remainder of the fight.

“I just wanted to fight and wasn’t thinking as much as I should have been”, said Williams.  “I give myself a D+ or a C- based on what I did out there tonight.  The physical part is good and I am a dog in the gym, but I need to work on the mental. I am happy with the win, but this will not get me to the next level, I need to come back stronger the next fight.”

Williams had other things to deal with in the fight.  He hurt his hand in the second round.  His hair was flying everywhere making it hard to focus on his target, Cuero.  The hair was such a big distraction that by the time the eighth round started, Williams started the round with white athletic tape holding his obstruction higher on his head to keep it out of his line of vision.

After the fight, I asked Williams’ trainer, Jack Loew, about the hair problem.  “You can bet your bottom dollar that will get taken care of very soon“, commented Loew.

Give Cuero credit.  He took what Williams had for most of the fight.  Battered and beaten, when it seemed he was going to get knocked down, he fought back with strong combinations.  This fighter deserves praise for showing up and giving all he had. Neither fighter seemed to have much gas left by the eighth round of the scheduled ten-rounder.

Williams was introduced to the partial Youngstown crowd with much fanfare including fireworks.  He was pumped when the opening bell rang and came out throwing big shots, maybe from being wound up.  Most of those shots missed, but one caught Cuero and there was a good amount of swelling to his right eye by the end of the second round.  In the second round, Williams slipped and later in the same round, his mouthpiece became dislodged, but the rest of the first couple of rounds went to Williams.

The fourth round was probably Cuero’s best of the fight and it was three minutes that he won decisively.  In the fifth, the hair started coming undone and leaking in front of Williams line of vision.  This was a quick two-sided problem because not only was Williams unable to focus on Cuero for any length of time, but he could also not see what was coming, and took a few good shots as a result.  After the fifth, John Loew tried some tighter rubber bands, but the hair would still get in the way.  By the eighth, white athletic tape, a new hot-seller at every beauty shop from here to Akron, was used.

Williams got a second wind toward the end of the ninth and was the better fighter in the tenth to pull out the convincing victory.  One of the judges scored it 99-91, which speaks sadly of boxing scoring.  The other two were more reasonable margins and the right score.  In the end, Dannie Williams (18-1, 14 by KO) did a good job and earned another victory in his march up the 135-pound rankings.

The fight was the main event for the first-ever Ghost Promotions card at the Covelli Centre in front of a great crowd of almost 2,000 fans.  Kelly Pavlik was there and signed a lot of autographs and took pictures.  The Ghost was introduced before a fight and got a nice ovation from the best boxing fans in the world.  Pavlik is fighting inside the Covelli Centre on August 6 against Darryl Cunningham.