Archive for the ‘Scrappers’ Category

The Mahoning Valley Scrappers front office has some very hard-working people.  The public perception of an employee for a minor league baseball team is usually distorted.  Popular to contrary belief, the employees do not sit and watch nine innings while yawning and looking at their watches.  Matt Thompson is the Director of Corporate Sales for the Scrappers.  He sells to businesses, handles the luxury box suites, and pretty much has the attitude to do whatever it takes.  I recently spoke with Thompson about his job and the Scrappers.

Paneech: How long have you been with the Scrappers organization?

Thompson: I started as an intern in 2004.  I spent 2005 in West Virginia working for our old ownership opening a brand new stadium.  I came back and was promoted to full-time employment in 2006.

Paneech: As Director of Corporate Sales, what are your duties?

Thompson: Primarily, my job is to sell sponsorships, billboards, video board spots, and pretty much promoting — they are not all me, but do fall into what I do.  I also handle the picnic garden and manage the staff that takes care of the people in the suites.  There is a lot involved with the suites and I stress to my staff that they need to smile and have fun, but to make sure that the clients are taken care of and are enjoying themselves.  We want them to really use our venue as a way to improve their businesses.

Paneech: Is this grueling work or is it just fun?

Thompson: I learned as an intern that it really is work.  I stress for everything to be perfect and to put our best foot forward to make it a more enjoyable job.  A lot of times it is relaxed, and sometimes it gets hectic.  I do come to work at a baseball field, so even on the days when it is tough to get out of bed, there has not been one time that I have dreaded the thought of going to work.  If I didn’t enjoy this as much as I still do, I don’t think I would be here.

Paneech: What is the biggest problem you ever had with the suites and keeping those folks happy?

Thompson: I don’t know if you could call it a “major” problem, but once in a great while, a suite order gets by unnoticed.  The food is an important element of being in the suites, and when a group orders higher-end catering, like some steak tips and an order gets displaced, they may end up with hot dogs, and that’s not a great thing.  It does not happen very often, so we try to label everything and pay close attention to details to ensure accuracy.

Thompson is one of the people who goes out of his way to not only make sure the customers are taken care of, but also makes sure his staff has what they need.  I have seen him help pull the tarp, he is an asset to his employers!

The Mahoning Valley Scrappers experienced their first three-game losing streak of the season.  Williamsport rolled into town and handed the Scrappers a 5-2 setback.  Situational hitting was not the forte of the home team as they struggled to get hits at key moments of the game and the bullpen faltered for the third straight game.

In the bottom of the first inning, Jake Lowery gave the Scrappers a 1-0 lead when he crushed a pitch over the right field wall.  The home run was Lowery’s third of the season, leading the team.  The fourth round draft pick out of James Madison recently traveled to Texas to receive the Johnny Bench Award last week.

The Crosscutters roared back  in the top of the second with one swing of the bat from Patrick Murray who homered to deep left to tie the game at a run apiece.  Williamsport would get another run in the top of the fifth off of Scrappers starter Mason Radeke.  Maikel Franco doubled home Francisco Diaz to give the Crosscutters a 2-1 lead.

Jordan Smith (above) made it a tie game at 2-2 in the bottom of the sixth inning when he hit a single to center that scored Bryson Myles from third base with two outs.  Myles reached base on a single and maneuvered his way around to third base with his usual chaos-raising aggressiveness.

A seemingly controversial ground rule double by Cody Asche gave Williamsport a 3-2 lead in eighth.  Asche hit a blooper off of reliever Tony Dischler down the right field line that looked like it dropped foul and then hopped the fence after it deflected off of Scrappers LF John Barr.  Scrappers Manager, David Wallace, came out to discuss the series of events with the home plate umpire, but nothing changed and Williamsport was ahead.

“I wasn’t really disputing the call, I just wanted to be clear on the ruling”, commented the friendly Wallace.  “That ball hit off of Barr’s glove and did land fair and then bounce out, and by rule, that is a double, he had it right. I’m not planning on getting thrown out, I think some guys here have a pool on it. I’m not scared to get thrown out, and these umpires are out here learning on the job just like the rest of us.”

Dischler took the tough loss in relief for Mahoning Valley.  Juary Gomez picked up the win for Williamsport.  Ramon Cespedes gave up two runs in relief for the Scrappers in the ninth.  Ryan Duke pitched the ninth inning to notch the save for the Crosscutters.

The Crosscutters and Scrappers will get it on again Thursday at Eastwood Field.  This is the first “Buck Night” of the season, and a very large crowd is expected.  Friday is the finale of the three game series and the fans will be treated to a great display of fireworks when the game ends.

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!

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.

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.

Scrappy had a birthday party Tuesday night at Eastwood Field (above).  All of his friends were there including Pete The Penguin.  The State College Spikes tried to crash the party, but the Mahoning Valley Scrappers battled their way back and won the game in the bottom of the ninth on a bases-loaded walk to Jordan Smith for a great 2-1 come-from behind victory.

“I’m very proud of our guys”, commented Coach David Wallace afterwards.  “Once this team gets down, they seem to turn it up a notch and play that much harder.”

The Spikes scored the first run of the game in the top of the fifth inning.  Matt Skirving doubled and scored from third when Alex Fuselier hit a grounder to short that was thrown away by Scrapper Shortstop, Tony Wolters.  Even if the throw would have been perfect it would have been a tough play.

Joseph Colon, who was scuffed up on Opening Day, had a second consecutive good start.  Colon pitched five strong innings for the Scrappers, yielding just one run, and it was unearned.  State Collge starter, Nick Kingham, also pitched well and didn’t give up a run.

The Spikes had the bases loaded with two outs in the top of the seventh.  Ramon Cespedes got out of a second-and-third-with-one-out jam to keep the Scrappers at a 1-0 deficit.  Things looked positive in the bottom of the seventh when Bryson Myles singled to start the inning.   Alex Livisky had a great at-bat, just missing a sure game-tying double down the third base line by a couple of inches, fouling a ball about four hundred feet long and twenty feet left, and ultimately lining a rope right at the shortstop for an inning-ending double play.

Jordan Smith started the bottom of the eighth with a double.  Aaron Siliga popped out to the catcher on a bunt attempt for the first out followed by KC Serna flying out to left.  With two outs, Jerrud Sabourin came through with a clean shot up the middle on a full count to tie the game at a run apiece.  Kevin Fontanez walked to put runners on first and second for Myles, who lined out to second.

Sabourin was happy to contribute to a good team victory with his bat.  “I have been struggling, and this is a process to go from college pitching to this type of pitching.  I have been working very hard, and it is just one hit, but who knows, hopefully there will be many more to come.”

In the bottom of the ninth and game knotted at one, Wolters was hit by a pitch on a 3-0 count and Lowery (above) walked on four pitches.  Lavisky followed that up with a bunt single setting the stage for Jordan Smith with nobody out.  Smith took four straight balls to get a cheap game-winning RBI.

Kyle Petter picked up the win for the Scrappers (7-3).

On Sunday, the Mahoning Valley Scrappers welcomed Ted “The Million Dollar Man” DiBiase to Eastwood Field.  DiBiase, one of the all-time great WWE heels, was on hand to sign autographs and greet the fans throughout Sunday’s Scrappers – State College Spikes game.

DiBiase pulled an old skit out of the woodwork when he offered the Scrappers Mascot ,“Scrappy”, an easy thousand dollars to do ten push-ups.  Scrappy was moving right along until DiBiase put his right foot on the fuzzy canine’s torso preventing the tenth push-up.  With his trademark laugh DiBiase blurted out, “Hahaha, not today Scrappy, sorry buddy”, and of course, the famous, “Everybody has a price.”

DiBiase also tossed out the ceremonial first pitch, suggesting he made a good choice going into wrestling instead of baseball.  Despite the poor toss, the receptive crowd gave DiBiase a nice ovation for the effort.

August 28th will mark a complete pro wrestling card as Mick Foley and Al Snow will make a visit to Eastwood Field to actively participate in a card to take place after the Scrappers-Jamestown Jammers game.

The Mahoning Valley Scrappers are welcoming Mick Foley and Al Snow to Eastwood Field on August 28.  Foley has had very recent stints in TNA Impact Wrestling and Snow is a WWE trainer.

The Scrappers will play a game against the Jamestown Jammers starting at 5 p.m.  Immediately after the game ends, the ring will be set up in the infield for a post game pro wrestling card, comprised of mostly independent talent.  Foley and Snow will participate in the action.

There will be one more star added, possibly Joe Laurinaitis (Road Warrior Animal) or Hall of Fame Diva, Sunny.  Those guests are not confirmed, but Foley and Snow are officially scheduled.

General Manager Jordan Taylor is excited about signing the two stars to appear.  “We are excited to bring Baseball Brawl back to Eastwood Field and having someone as big as Mick Foley gives our fans the chance to see one of the legendary names of wrestling perform.”

The Mahoning Valley Scrappers have undergone a few changes from last season to this season.  One of the big personnel moves was bringing in David Wallace to be the new manager, replacing Travis Fryman.  Wallace has been, for the most part, in the Cleveland Indians organization his whole career at some capacity but this is his first stint as a frontman.  So far, the new skipper has put up very good signs that he is plenty capable of not only managing his team, but also making personnel decisions, dealing with the media, and keeping positive.  After the first two Scrapper home losses, Wallace was still smiling and optimistic.  The Indians have made a very good choice with Wallace, but many of the fans do not know much about him, so this interview was conducted to better understand Wallace and what makes him tick.

Paneech: I was reading through your biography page and saw that your title last year was “Assistant to The Staff“.  What exactly did you do?

Wallace: That is just a glorified name for a bullpen catcher.  Being the bullpen catcher was a good transitional role for me to go from playing into coaching and to get some valuable experience that I was not able to get as a player.  I was there to do whatever they needed me to do, and during the games, I was in the bullpen warming guys up.

Paneech: Were you assigned to help catchers or relief pitchers, or was it a combination of both?

Wallace: A little bit of both. Before the games, I would alternate turns in the cage throwing batting practice and then during the games, I would catch in the bullpen.  I was there and able to watch Sandy Alomar [Indians First Base Coach] and Manny [Acta] and all of his guys work with the players.  I would ask questions like “Why was this decision made?”, and would learn from what they did.

Paneech: Was it your decision to bring in Greg Hibbard as a pitching coach and Tony Mansolino as a hitting coach or are those guys assigned to you?

Wallace: They are assigned, the front office in Cleveland puts together all of the coaching staffs in the minors.  I had Greg as a pitching coach when I was a player in two different seasons.  We already had a good working relationship together.  Tony, I met a while back in Nashville at Vanderbilt.  We never played together there, but had met each other through mutual friends.  Our families have been in town, and the three of us will sit there after games and start talking about different things we saw.  Before you know it an hour or two has passed and our families are still waiting for us.

Paneech: Have you talked to Travis Fryman about the Scrappers and what maybe worked or didn’t work for him while he was here?

Wallace: Oh yeah.  Travis has been huge for me. I have had multiple conversations with him from Spring training and on the phone.  He has been a huge help as I tried to get ready for a very hectic first week.  We are signing guys, moving guys to Lake County, moving guys to Arizona, and trying to work the guys we have here.  I was familiar with the area because I played here for the Scrappers in 2002, but the area has changed a lot since then, and he has been a tremendous advisor in that regard too.  He is a guy I will continue to lean on and ask questions, not only about baseball, but also about life, because he is a great life coach as well.

Paneech: Why and how did your playing career end?

Wallace: In 2008, I was in Triple A with the Nationals, Cleveland had traded me there.  I was backing up their catcher and there was actually a better opportunity for me to get some playing time in the Washington farm system, which at that time, was in Columbus.  The Indians traded me there, kind of as a favor, so I could get more playing time.  I didn’t get called up there and felt in my heart that it was time to move on.  I think I could have hung around, and maybe in a year, the planets might have all aligned, and I would have gotten called up for a cup of coffee.  At that point it would have been tough to put together a solid career as a player.  I talked with Ross Atkins [Cleveland Indians Developer of Player Personnel] about this opportunity and to go into the coaching and player development part of this.  I miss playing, but I don’t regret my decision.

Paneech: Is this a big change from your hometown of Jacksonville?

Wallace: I don’t feel like it is really that big of a change for me.  I played long enough that I know what to expect.  I have spent more time in Ohio at Cleveland, here, Lake County, Columbus, and Akron, than I have in the five years I have been in Jacksonville.  It’s a bigger adjustment for players coming from the West Coast.

Paneech: Past coaches have had things that they could not tolerate.  For example, Tim Laker couldn’t tolerate the media, Travis Fryman couldn’t tolerate showboating and one-upmanship. What is it that you will not tolerate?

Wallace: (laughs)  I would say lack of respect.  Whether it is a lack of respect for the game, which has given us all so much, or lack of respect for teammates and staff, or anyone that you come across.  No one person is better than the others and that includes me, and I tell the players that.  That would be the one thing, a lack of respect,  that I will not put up with.

One Word Answers:

Favorite Meal of The Day: Breakfast.

Favorite Non-Sports Show On TV: This is embarrassing, but Glee.

Best Baseball Movie Ever Made: Bull Durham.

Biggest Phobia: Frogs.

Favorite Vacation Destination: Home, but I would like to go back to New Zealand.

Junk Food: Junior Mints.

Worst Habit: Not making the bed.

Favorite Musician: George Strait.  I love country music.

Animal At The Zoo You Most Resemble: Hopefully, a lion.

Prediction For The Season: I stay away from predicting wins.  I will, however, predict that we go out and play hard every night.

It took eleven innings to decide a winner in the Mahoning Valley Scrappers game against the Batavia Muckdogs.  In the end, it was the Scrappers who were victorious.  An eleventh inning bases-loaded walk to new Scrapper Jordan Smith proved to be the winning margin as the Scrappers prevailed, 4-3.

The Scrappers got the party started in the fourth inning when Aaron Siliga (below) hit a bomb over the right field bullpen to put Mahoning Valley ahead 1-0.  It marked the second night in a row that the Scrappers homered.

Meanwhile, Scrappers Opening Day starter Joseph Colon had  much stronger performance on the mound.  Colon went a strong five innings only surrendering one hit  while recording four strikeouts and walking two.

Drew Rucinski relieved Colon to start the sixth and got into early trouble loading the bases with nobody out.  Nick Martini hit a grounder to short that got a Muckdogs run across to tie the game.  David Medina stepped in with two out and delivered a clean single up the middle to give Batavia a 2-1 lead.

The two runs Batavia scored in the sixth ended a 15 inning scoreless drought.

Mahoning Valley would claw back with a run in the seventh to tie the game.  Todd Hankins singled, stole second, and moved to third on a wild pitch.  The next batter, Casey Serna, walked to put runners on first and third with nobody out.  With Serna moving toward second, Cody Elliott took the pitch right where the second baseman would have been covering if not moving toward second to cover the bag. Hankins trotted home and the game was tied at two runs apiece.  Later in the inning, Serna tried to score on a ball that got by the catcher but was thrown out at the plate.

Manager David Wallace (above) tried a magic trick to hypnotize the Batavia third baseman, Jeremy Patton, but was unsuccessful.  Patton knocked home a run in the eighth inning to give the Muckdogs a 3-2 lead.

Mahoning Valley would not go away though.  In the bottom of the eighth, newcomer Jordan Smith recorded his first RBI as a Scrapper with his second hit of the game scoring Jake Lowery.  Interesting that the new guy has the current Scrapper GM’s [Jordan Taylor] first name and the former Scrapper GM’s [Dave Smith] last name.  Regardless, he tied the game with the single and played a solid third base for Mahoning Valley.

In the 11th inning, Serna hit a leadoff single between third and short.  Kevin Fontanez hit a ball that the shortstop booted putting runners on first and second with nobody out.  Bryson Myles bunted the runners to second and third with one out.  Lowery was then intentionally walked to load the bases setting the stage for Jordan Smith with two outs.  Taking the at-bat to a full count, Smith took ball four to complete his welcome to Niles show as the Scrappers improved to 4-2.

After the game, Wallace commented on his team not quitting.  “The maturity of these guys is coming out.  They kept their heads in the game and played hard.  We are always preaching good, quality at-bats.  We tell them to be selective and wait for their pitch.  In the last inning, that was the second time we had seen that particular pitcher,  and he struggled with his command a little bit the first time, so we wanted to really be selective on the pitches we took swings at.”