Mahoning Valley just can’t get over the hump.  Ten hits, two runs, and a loss.  The Tri-City Valley Cats took it to the Scrappers, 6-2, in front of 4,001 fans.  The Scrappers fell to 18-30 on the season and are still trying to figure out where the consistency can be found.

Tri-City got on the scoreboard in the first inning by putting three runs up before the Scrappers could even record an out.  Ben Orloff led off the game with a solid single.  Kike Hernandez followed that with another single.  Scrapper starter, Kirk Wetmore, then hit Tyler Burnett with a pitch to load the bases.  The cleanup hitter for Tri-City, Michael Kvasnicka, did just that – cleaned up and gave the Valley Cats a 3-0 lead with a bases clearing double.  Kvasnicka was the #1 Draft Pick for the Houston Astros in this year’s draft.

Mahoning Valley fought back a little in the second as Jesus Aguilar and Chase Burnette hit back-to-back doubles to cut the Valley Cat lead to 3-1.

Tri-City again got to Wetmore in the top of the third.  Hernandez walked and Burnett was hit by a pitch.  Kvasnicka then singled home a run.  Wetmore’s third wild pitch of the game allowed the runners to move up a base.  Daniel Adamson then knocked in the fifth Valley Cat run with a groundout.

The Scrappers made it 5-2 in the fifth inning when Dan DeGeorge knocked home Kevin Fontanez with a single.  The Scrappers had a chance for more but Carlos Moncrief struck out looking and Brian Heere flew out.

Pitching Coach Ken Rowe (pictured, next to cooler), a man of few words, has to have mixed feelings on the Scrappers pitching this season.  When a starter looks strong, the bullpen implodes.  When a starter gets rocked, there is not enough offensive firepower to overcome the deficit.  Rowe has declined to comment several times.

After the game, Travis Fryman echoed the repeated frustration of having ten or more hits and only scoring a couple of runs.  “We hit into three double plays which could have easily been four.  We had a runner on second with nobody out a couple of times and failed to advance and we had several chances to get back into the game, but could not overcome that first inning.”

George “The Animal” Steele will be at Saturday’s Scrapper game to throw out the first pitch.