Posts Tagged ‘David Wallace’

The Mahoning Valley Scrappers offense had been pretty potent all season.  State College came into Wednesday’s contest in the basement of the NYPL Pinckney Division, nine games behind the Scrappers.  The Scrappers entered the game in a three-way tie for first. The Scrappers fought and clawed their way back from a two-run ninth inning deficit to tie the game, but a Carlos Mesa home run gave State College a hard fought 5-4 victory in ten innings.

The Spikes recorded the first run of the game in the first inning.  Chris Lashmet hit an RBI single knocking in Walter Gourley.  The Spikes made it 3-0 in the fourth when Scrapper starter Danny Jimenez uncorked a wild pitch allowing Carlos Mesa to score.  Jimenez went 5 1/3 innings for the Scrappers.

Alex Lavisky (below) got the Scrappers on the board with a solo home run in the fifth.  For Lavisky it was his third home run and he seems to be swinging the bat much better in the last couple of weeks.

State College looked like a different team than they had their first four games this season at Eastwood Field (0-4).  Their pitching kept Scrapper hitters off-balance for most of the game and they played well as a team.  The Scrappers did not do well with situational hitting and just couldn’t seem to get into the rhythm that they have performed at most of this season until the ninth inning.

Todd Hankins hit a solo home run to lead off the seventh inning.  Hankins crushed the Mike Jefferson offering over the visitor bullpen fence clearing the back wall, which is about fifteen feet high.  The Hankins dinger made it a two-run game and hope was still alive.

The Scrappers threatened in the eighth inning when John Barr had a one-out single.  State College went to the bullpen and brought in Emmanuel De Leon to face the potential tying runs, Lavisky and Hankins who both homered earlier in the game.  Lavisky flew out to left, just getting under one.  Hankins grounded out to second, end of the threat.

In the ninth inning, Tony Wolters (above) knocked in Jerrud Sabourin, who walked on four pitches to start the ninth.  Jake Lowery hit a mammoth sac fly to deep center to bring home Cody Elliott and tie the game.  In the top of the tenth, Carlos Mesa blasted one over the left field wall to put State College back in front, 5-4.

In the bottom of the tenth, Lavisky started the inning with a single and was bunted to second by Hankins.  The Spikes brought in reliever Vince Payne to face Sabourin.  The Scrapper first baseman lined out to short.  Aaron Siliga stepped in with two outs but flew out to center.

Will Krasne took the loss for the Scrappers.  These two teams will travel to State College and play three more times over the next three days.

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.

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.”

On Superhero night at Eastwood Field, Jordan Smith did his best Spiderman by flashing some good webbing at third.  Bryson Myles and KC Serna played the role of Flash with their blinding speed on the basepaths, and Williamsport represented The Legion of Doom. In fictitious circles, good [Mahoning Valley] triumphed over evil [Williamsport] as the Scrappers posted a 8-2 win at home in front of 4,629 fans.

The Scrappers struck early for three first-inning runs off of Williamsport starter, Adam Morgan.  Bryson Myles led off the game with a single and advanced to second on a groundout.  Jake Lowery reached on an error setting the stage for red-hot Jordan Smith.  Smith (below) responded by doubling to get Myles home giving the Scrappers a 1-0 lead.  John Barr then singled to knock in Lowery and Smith to increase the first-inning lead to 3-0.

The Crosscutters responded in the third scoring two of their own when Kelly Dugan and Taylor Black raced home on Maikel Franco‘s double.  Scrapper starter, Joseph Colon, was able to buckle down and escape further harm in the inning.  All-in-all, Colon pitched a good game going five innings, giving up five hits, and exiting with a two-run lead.

Mahoning Valley got a run back in the bottom of the fifth.  Cody Elliott singled to left, moved to second on a wild pitch and kept running when the catcher’s throw sailed into center field.  KC Serna singled to left to drive home Elliott and put the Scrappers ahead 4-2.

The Scrappers bullpen did well to preserve the lead.  Enosil Tejeda, who started the sixth inning for the Scrappers threw three scoreless innings and looked very sharp.  Will Krasne pitched the ninth in a non-save situation for the Scrappers.

In the eighth, Todd Hankins hit a broken bat slow-roller down the third base line.  Serna came in from third and Smith was able to score from second when the Crosscutters third baseman, Harold Martinez, threw the ball past the first baseman.  With runners on second and third, Williamsport reliever Austin Wright uncorked a wild pitch.  Barr scored easily from third, but more impressively, Hankins sprinted all the way around from second and scored to make it 8-2 in favor of the Scrappers.

” We played a good, clean, defensive game tonight.  We have been kicking it around a little bit lately,” remarked David Wallace after the win.  “We grabbed the momentum and kept it tonight.  Our guys showed a lot of heart tonight by going hard and running everything out. It is exactly what we want to see and we are happy they are a part of this organization, it is exactly what we want to see.”

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 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.

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.”

With a serious threat of rain on the radar, the Eastwood Field grounds crew and the Scrappers employees peeled the tarp off and got the game started right on time.  The Mahoning Valley Scrappers had a rough time with different elements, notably fundamentals.  Batavia trailed 1-0 in the first inning but roared back to beat the Scrappers, 10-7, thanks to 6 errors committed by the home team.

The Scrappers wasted little time getting on the scoreboard.  Cody Elliott recorded a double on a check swing and advanced to third when Tony Wolters singled.  Elliott scored when Jake Lowery (above) grounded out to second and avoided being a double play victim by hustling to first.  The RBI was the fourth in two games for Lowery.

Batavia evened the score in the top of the second aided by two walks off of Scrappers starter Rob Nixon.  Virgil Hill made Nixon pay with a clean RBI single to tie the game.  In the top of the third, Batavia tacked on another run when Romulo Ruiz tripled to the base of the left-centerfield wall.  Ruiz got home on a wild pitch to give the Muckdogs the lead.  In the fourth, Kevin Moscatel hit a home run to left field to increase the Muckdogs lead to 3-1.  Back-to-back doubles by Mike O’Neill and Jeremy Patton created another run later in the fourth inning for Batavia.

Aaron Siliga and Casey Serna hit back-to-back singles to start the fourth inning for the Scrappers.  Siliga scored from second when Batavia could not complete a double play at first base and the ball trickled past first baseman David Medina, to make it 6-2.

Bryson Myles cut the Batavia lead to 6-3 with one swing of the bat in the bottom of the fifth to bring the Scrappers back to striking distance.  It was the first home run hit by a Scrapper player this season. In the top half of the sixth, unfortunately, Cesar Valera answered with his own long bomb to keep the Scrappers at a four-run deficit with the score at 7-3.  Medina hit the third home run of the game for Batavia to atone for his error and give the visitors a 9-3 lead.

The Scrappers got two more runs back in the seventh when Alex Lavisky hit a two-run double driving in Wolters and Lowery to make the score 9-5.  Batavia added to their lead in the eighth though and the Scrappers would not get closer than a 10-7 deficit.  It should be noted that Kyle Petter struck out three Muckdogs in the top of the ninth.

Nixon took the loss for the Scrappers (2-2) and Jose Almarante got the win for Batavia (2-2).  These two teams will hook up for two more games on Tuesday (Buck Night) and Wednesday.

After the game, Mahoning Valley Skipper, David Wallace, was optimistic with good reason.  “In the two losses, the thing that I see is that these guys do not give up.  I can take losing if the effort is there, and it was tonight.  We had a chance to come back and win in the late innings and stayed in the game overcoming the six errors.  We made some mistakes, but it is still very early in the season and we are going to be ok.”