Posts Tagged ‘Mahoning Valley Scrappers’

Following this Sunday’s Scrapper game, the MCW rolls in for a postgame wrestling card. The card has become an annual tradition at Eastwood Field and this year’s schedule is loaded.  Watch the Matt Hardy video above for more details.

Kevin Bellew, the promoter for MCW is delivering serious talent for the 2012 card. Hardy will be joined by Tommy Dreamer, Rhino, and Carlito. All four of these wrestlers were main event status superstars in the WWE and none of the four are washed-up glory seekers, but rather still among the elite wrestlers in a crowded industry.

Bellew also guaranteed a surprise appearance by a current belt holder from one of the two televised promotions (WWE or TNA) to be at Baseball Brawl on Sunday.

“I can’t say who the mystery superstar is”, said Bellew via telephone.  “I can guarantee that the mystery superstar is a current champion and is on television every week.  He will be there (not a women’s champion) signing autographs and greeting fans in Niles on Sunday.”

The Scrappers give Bellew an allotted budget to work with each year.  Bellew then contacts stars that would draw, sometimes risking his own money over the budget amount, to guarantee the fans will enjoy the show filled with some recognizable names.

“We probably could have just used Matt Hardy and any one of the other three and it would have drawn”, said Bellew.  “By using all four superstars, plus a confirmed huge name as a mystery guest, we are proving to everyone that the commitment is strong to provide the best and most entertaining lineup we can.”

The wrestlers will greet fans and sign autographs throughout the day before the ring will be set up on the infield for the wrestling show.  This is the day to be there!  Call the Scrappers box office at  330-505-0000 for VIP and ticket information.

Should be a great day, as it is also Luke Holko day.  Luke will be in attendance, as will Ben Carlson.  Holko and family and Carlson have remained in contact, which is another story worth hearing.  All parties involved are the best kind of people created.

Don’t miss a Sunday at Eastwood Field that will offer something for everyone and an unsolved mystery to boot!

The weather has been miserable, and the Mahoning Valley Scrappers and Staten Island Yankees have probably played more pinochle than baseball in the last 48 hours.

On Friday, a scheduled doubleheader was almost halfway completed when Mother Nature decided the corn needed more water.  The Scrappers were ahead, 5-3,  in the seventh when play was delayed.  The game would never resume and the result was a win for the Scrappers to push to 20-18 on the season.

Jake Sisco picked up his first professional win for Mahoning Valley throwing 5-2/3 innings and surrendering three earned runs off of seven hits.  Sisco has exited plenty of games with leads only to watch the bullpen buckle to prevent him of getting into the win column.

Offensively, Mahoning Valley put all the runs they would need on the board in their half of the second inning.   With one out, Evan Frazar singled.  Jeremy Lucas followed with a walk.

Juan Romero (above) reached on an infield single to load the bases.  Robel Garcia then doubled home both Frazar and Lucas.  Hunter Jones followed with a single to plate Romero and Garcia.

The Scrappers never trailed.

Brooklyn now comes in tomorrow for three games starting with Saturday’s scheduled 7:05 start.

Two things happened for the Mahoning Valley Scrappers on Sunday in a 2-1 win over the Jamestown Jammers.  First off, situational hitting has been an issue at times this year, but Robel Garcia hit a full-count pitch to plate Erik Gonzalez with the game-winning run in the bottom of the ninth inning to lift the Scrappers to a victory.

The second good thing that happened was that the bullpen kept a tie game knotted as Rafael Homblert picked up his first win in relief of Luis DeJesus.

DeJesus has been dominant and has pitched well in every start.  Homblert, on the other hand, seems to be turning a corner from where he had been before this week started.  He picked up a save earlier in the week and nabbed a win in this game.  Prior to the good results on Sunday, Homblert’s ERA was higher than three gallons of gas on the turnpike.

Robbie Aviles and Michael Peoples combined to throw two innings of scoreless relief before Homblert pitched the final two innings.

Tyler Naquin started the fourth inning with a hustle double and advanced to third on a wild pitch.  Joe Sever (top photo) poked a single to right to knock Naquin in and tie the game at 1-1.

The game would stay deadlocked until the bottom of the ninth.  Depending on how you look at it, the hitters were struggling, or the pitching was outstanding.  This result was a combination of both as the Scrappers stranded eight men on base.

The Scrappers are headed East to Williamsport for a pair before returning home to host Staten Island Yankees on Wednesday.

The Mahoning Valley Scrappers split a pair of games with Jamestown on Friday.  The first game was a continuation of Thursday’s rain-halted contest.  Leading 6-3 in the continuation game, the bullpen got rocked for six runs in the eighth and the Jammers took the first game, 9-7.

Evan Frazar hit a grand slam before the rain came, but when play resumed on Friday, the skies may have cleared, but the Scrapper bullpen remained cloudy.

In the Scrapper half of the sixth, Joe Wendle doubled home Robel Garcia to push the advantage to 7-3.  Jack Wagoner (1-3) surrendered the final three runs to take the loss for the Scrappers.

In the second game, the bullpen was able to preserve a spectacular performance by Scrapper starter, Jacob Lee.  All Lee did was throw five perfect innings, while tallying five strikeouts.  The Scrappers ended up on the right end of a 2-1 verdict.

Juan Romero hit his sixth homer of the season, a two-run bomb to center.  Those two runs in the second would prove to be enough run support for Lee.

Rafael Homblert worked the seventh inning to notch his first career save for Mahoning Valley.

The Scrappers return home for a two-game set with the same Jamestown Jammers on Saturday and Sunday at Eastwood Field.  First pitch is at 7, and the Sunday game will start at 5.

In a race, the way you finish overshadows the way you start in most cases.  Nobody remembers, or for that matter, cares who was winning at the halfway point.  For the Mahoning Valley Scrappers, 2012 has been that kind of race.  The offense bailed out the bullpen in a big way as the Scrappers got by the State College Spikes, 7-3.

The above analogy does not fully orchestrate how good the Scrappers starting pitching has been and how (politely) ineffective the bullpen has been.  Granted, the Scrappers starting pitching rotation has been helped and hurt as a result of run support, but the bullpen has been consistently struggling.  Losing Enosil Tejeda and Luis Head to Lake County should make it tougher yet to maintain leads.

“Merritt had a good start tonight and we couldn’t hold it for him”, said Scrapper Manager Ted Kubiak.  “We are shuffling guys into different roles in the bullpen and trying different combinations of things.  As you can see, this team fights back.”

The Scrappers scored the first run of the game in the second inning when Tyler Naquin singled home Jairo Kelly.  Naquin’s status coming into the game was unknown as he was hit on the elbow on the recent roadtrip.  No ill effects on that hit or the diving sixth inning catch he made in center.

Ryan Merritt (above) had perhaps his best start as a Scrapper.  In the seven innings Merritt pitched, he only walked one Spikes hitter and struck out five.  He left the game with a 3-1 lead, and would be assured a win if the bullpen could nail it down.

Charlie Valerio (below) did his part to help Merritt earn a win in launching a towering bomb to center field that found its way out to give Mahoning Valley  a 2-0 lead.

“I was sitting on a fastball when it was two balls and no strikes”, said Valerio.  “I guessed good and it got out of the park.”

In the sixth, Merritt made a mistake and Barrett Barnes made him pay with a homer to left field.

The Scrappers scored a run in the bottom of the sixth to make it 3-1.  Naquin walked and then scored on a Joey Wendle double.

The Scrapper bullpen hit the mound to start the eighth inning.  James Stokes walked the first two Spikes he faced and then threw a sac bunt attempt that he fielded and threw wide of the third baseman, Wendle, to load the bases with nobody out.

The Scrappers then caught a break when Barnes hit what looked to be a double play ball.  The Scrappers got the out at second but the throw was wide at first.  The umpires ruled it was an out-of-the-baseline intentional slide and gave the Scrappers two outs with no runs because everyone was sent back.

Stokes got off the hook with the break.  Enter Jacob Lee.  First batter, 2-2 pitch, single up the middle, tie game, implosion – yet again.  Yet Lee gets the gift win as the Scrapper offense roared in the eighth.

The Scrapper offense, in the eighth, fought back as Robel Garcia singled.  Kelly tried to bunt Garcia over and Spikes relief pitcher Jordan Cooper fielded the ball and flung it about three feet over Jordaneli Carvajal‘s head and into right field.  Garcia scored on the play and Kelly hustled all the way to third.  Naquin was then plucked, and Wendle got his second hit to drive Kelly in and give the Scrappers a 5-3 lead.

With two outs in the eighth,  Aaron Siliga singled home Naquin and Wendle to make it 7-3 to close out the scoring.

Going into Monday’s game with Connecticut, the Mahoning Valley Scrappers were a little under the weather.  Manager Ted Kubiak and players Joey Wendle, Jeremy Lucas, and Joe Sever were all flu-stricken.  Tyler Naquin (above) and Jake Sisco proved to be a good pair of aspirins to keep his team on the winning track, but the Scrappers bullpen was queasy in the 5-4 loss.

Sisco started the game off in grand fashion.  The Scrapper starter (below) struck out the first three Tiger batters he faced.  Sisco would end up throwing six complete innings.  51 of his 80 pitches thrown were strikes.  More impressively, he was in command and able to get ahead of Tigers hitters all night.

Offensively, the Scrappers got going in the second inning.  Richard Stock singled to start the inning and two outs later, Evan Frazer walked.  Robel Garcia and Jairo Kelly produced back-to-back RBI singles.  Naquin then drilled a triple over the right fielders head to score Garcia and Kelly post the Scrappers to a 4-0 lead.

Robbie Aviles came out of the Scrapper bullpen to start the seventh inning with a 4-0 lead.  Unfortunaly, Aviles could not get an out in the eighth inning and was replaced by Luis Head.

Connecticut would score in the top of the seventh inning off of Avila.  Jordan Dean singled home a run.  Moments later, Dean appeared to be out by a mile stealing second base, but the umpire ruled him safe.  Kubiak went out to argue, but it was pitching coach Greg Hibbard who was ejected by the home plate umpire.  Hibbard got his money’s worth before exiting.

The crowd of 2,532 at Eastwood Field saw the Scrappers bullpen implode in  what seemed to be a comfortable lead.

Naquin finished the game with the two-RBI triple and a single.  Kelly also collected a pair of hits for the Scrappers.

Head inherited runners on second and third with nobody out.  The right-handed pitching prospect’s first pitch was laced to center for a single.    Tyler Hanover tried to score from second, but Naquin fired a bullet to Charlie Valerio and cut down Hanover by a couple of steps to minimize the damage.

Devin Travis had a single with two out in the eighth that drove home a run to make it a 4-3 game.  Patrick Smith then collected his only hit in four AB’s, an RBI-double that tied the game.  For the second consecutive night, the Scrappers bullpen blew a four run lead. In the ninth, with Head still pitching, Hanover got a bit of revenge, singling in the go-ahead run.

In the bottom of the ninth, Frazer started off with a single.  Garcia bunted pinch runner Erik Gonzalez over to second.  Kelly then struck out looking bringing Naquin to the plate in another crucial situation.  Naquin proved to be human striking out to end the game.

The Mahoning Valley Scrappers managed to stay on a roll.  For the second night in a row, the Scrappers disposed of the Connecticut Tigers,5-4, using pretty much the same game plan – balance.  Everybody chipped in.

Tyler Naquin drilled a two-out single up the middle to lift the Scrappers to a win.  The Scrappers held a 4-1 lead, but the bullpen was unable to hold it.

Trailing 1-0 in the third, the Scrappers seized a 2-1 lead.  Robel Garcia doubled with one out.  Aaron Siliga whizzed one up the middle to knock Garcia home and tie the game.  Siliga later scored when Tigers starter Endrys Briceno unleashed a wild pitch.

In the third, the Scrappers tacked on two more to increase their lead.  Jeremy Lucas singled with one out and moved to second on a wild pitch.  Erik Gonzalez was hit by a pitch and Garcia walked to load the bases.  Lucas scored on a Siliga groundout to make it 3-1.  Charlie Valerio then drew a bases loaded walk to force in another run and give the Scrappers a 4-1 advantage.

Mahoning Valley got a fantastic defensive play by Gonzalez in the sixth.  Connecticut had men on first and second with nobody out when Tyler Hanover hit a bullet down the third baseline.  Gonzalez made an amazing fully-extended stop on a ball that would have scored at least one run.  He also made a great throw to second and record an out.

Geoff Davenport (top photo) had a good start for the Scrappers.  The crafty lefty only allowed three hits and walked nobody, while surrendering just one earned run.  Davenport struck out three.

Connecticut, however, managed to tag Scrapper relief pitcher  James Stokes for a couple of runs in the seventh.  Stokes was his own worst enemy during the inning as he hit a batter, walked a batter, and unloaded a wild pitch.  Rafael Homblert pitched the eighth and gave up a game-tying run.

Siliga (above) had a very productive game for the Scrappers.  The second baseman went 3-5 with a stolen base, a run, an intentional walk, and a pair of RBI’s, and continues to show marked improvement in areas he struggled with last season.

Enosil Tejeda pitched a scoreless ninth inning to give the Scrappers a chance to win in their final at-bat.  With the top of the order up (Siliga, Tyler Naquin, and Valerio), Ted Kubiak had to like his chances, but no one in the batting trio found their way on.

Jack Wagoner came in to start the 11th inning for the Scrappers to notch the win.

Gonzalez walked and would score on Naquin’s clutch two-out single to boost the Scrappers.

The Mahoning Valley Scrappers and Aberdeen Ironbirds played the final game of their trilogy Friday night at Eastwood Field.  The Scrappers kept fighting back to claim  leads when trailing, but ultimately, Torsten Boss‘s pinch-hit, two-run homer proved to be the final nail in the coffin.

Trailing 1-0, the Scrappers found a lead in the second inning.  Charlie Valerio started the inning with a single and Joe Sever (below, with Ted Kubiak) walked.  Aaron Siliga then singled to load the bases with nobody out.  Jeremy Lucas then hit a sac fly to right that brought Valerio home.  Erik Gonzalez, who made some snazzy plays at third base, singled to bring Sever home and give the Scrappers a 2-1 lead.

In the top of the third inning, Aberdeen tied the game.  The Scrappers would answer to reclaim the one-run lead in the bottom of the inning.  Joey Wendle, perhaps the hottest Scrapper hitter, knocked his fifth double with one out.  He proceeded to steal third and advanced home on a throwing error.

In an entertaining game, the lead would change hands again as Aberdeen plated two runs in the fourth to take a 4-3 lead.  Scrappers starter Ryan Merritt would be chased from the game and relieved by Cody Penny.  The line for Merritt could have been better or worse, depending on which statistics matter the most.  Merritt gave up four runs, three earned, and got touched up for eight hits.

Mahoning Valley again responded unconventionally to reclaim the lead.  The Scrappers scored once in the fifth and once in the sixth to go ahead 5-4.  In the fifth, Wendle tripled with two outs.  Valerio then singled to bring Wendle home and tie the game.  In the sixth, Marcus Bradley walked with two outs.  Bradley stole second and then advanced to third and later home as Aberdeen looked like a mediocre little league team throwing the ball around.

That lead held until the eighth inning.  Torsten Boss delivered a big pinch hit two-run homer off of Jack Wagoner to give Aberdeen a 6-5 lead.

Mahoning Valley had a chance to tie the game or take a lead in the eighth, but Jairo Kelly popped out to short to halt the rally.

Enosil Tejeda pitched the ninth inning for the Scrappers.  Tejeda walked the leadoff hitter, Creede Simpson, and then threw a sac bunt way past the first baseman, which set the Ironbirds up with second and third and nobody out.  Simpson scored on a groundout to make it a 7-5 deficit.

Tyler Naquin started the ninth with a single and advanced to second on a passed ball.  Wendle struck out but Naquin advanced to third as the catcher had to throw the ball to first to retire a hustling Wendle.  Valerio then walked to put runners on first and third.

That brought Sever to the plate, who singled home Naquin.  Siliga was next with men on first and second with one out.  Siliga hit a grounder to second but beat out the double play.  That would bring up Lucas with two out and the tying run 90 feet away.  Unfortunately, Lucas hit a high fly to the deepest part of the park and the game ended.

Tim Pozsgai doesn’t not rely on voice coaching or technique when broadcasting Mahoning Valley Scrappers games for AM-1570.  Pozsgai has a much different approach and it a refreshing take compared to all of the cardboard cutout styles society has grown so accustomed to.

The first year media relations director commutes about an hour to and from Eastwood Field.  He is an avid wrestling fan and is looking ahead to July 29 when Matt Hardy, Tommy Dreamer, Carlito, And Rhino will be part of an annual promotion.  Pozsgai is still a Stone Cold Steve Austin fan through-and-through.

The 32-year old Pozsgai, pronounce (POZE-guy) is happily married and is dad to two young ones.

Paneech:  How did you become so involved and so passionate about this sport?

Pozsgai:  I got into the broadcasting about three years ago.  I played baseball and was as high as some of the independent leagues until I got released.  I wandered around for awhile and was lucky enough to meet some good people in the Indians organization who helped me out a lot.  I took a shot with it, they liked what I did, so here I am.

Paneech:  I have been fortunate enough to catch a couple of games and I like your unique style.  Can you explain it?

Pozsgai:  My approach is completely different than what you would get from most kids.  You get these kids right out of college and they are all taught to talk the same way and use a fake radio voice.  My approach is that I feel like I am sitting in a bar with a buddy watching a baseball game and we are going to talk about it.  I am going to be a homer because thy are paying me and I am around these guys everyday and am emotionally attached to their performance.

Paneech:  What has been the most pleasant surprise so far?

Pozsgai:  The biggest surprise so far is probably how good of a team we have here.  We have a lot of high round draft picks and you always wonder how they are going to gel.  The other side of that is that from the number one pick down, they are all genuinely good people.

Paneech:  What is the one thing that you are maybe a little disappointed with?

Pozsgai:  The only disappointment for me this year is that we are not going to Staten Island or Brooklyn this year.  Those are supposed to be two of the best ballparks in the league.  I am partial to Eastwood Field, I love it here.

Paneech:  Who do you find yourself getting close with?

Poszgai:  Our pitching and hitting coaches, Tony [Mansolino] and Hibby [Greg Hibbard] are good guys and we have played golf on the road.  Ted [Kubiak] is a good guy too.  There is obviously a little bit of an age difference, so I am not as close with him as the other two coaches.  Ted is a great guy too.  I talk with Tyler [Naquin] quite a bit and will talk with any of the player during the bus rides.

Paneceh:  How much separation is there based on nationality and language between the players?

Pozsgai:  Really there is not as much separation as there seems.  The Dominican guys are making a good effort, the American guys are doing the same and everyone seems to be getting along very well.  On the outside, it may look like they are somewhat segregated, but they really are not, they are getting along as a team should.

Getting along is something Tim Poszgai seems to be doing very well.  In fact, he is excelling.  Listen to an entertaining broadcast of the Scrappers the next chance you have!

The Mahoning Valley Scrappers have waited two weeks for this kind of an offensive display.  The Scrappers amassed 12 hits and scored 11 runs.  Every Scrapper starter scored a run and hits were almost effortless.  Combine that with a good start from Luis DeJesus and the result is a 11-4 thrashing of Aberdeen.

DeJesus, who has been referred to by Scrappers manager Ted Kubiak as a ‘slow starter’, lived up to his billing.  Aberdeen loaded the bases with nobody out in the first inning.  It can’t be much more of a slow start than that.  A strikeout and a heads-up double play by Joey Wendle at third base got DeJesus off the hook with no damage.

In the bottom of the second, the floodgates of offense finally opened. Aberdeen starter Cameron Coffey entered the game with a 10.51 ERA that probably increased to about 12.00 before he exited.  Charlie Valerio got the party started with a single.  Joe Sever followed that with a single.  Valerio and Sever both trotted home when Aaron Siliga doubled.  Erik Gonzalez and Robel Garcia then had back-to-back RBI singles to post the Scrappers to a 5-0 lead.

After the Ironbirds scraped out a run against DeJesus, the Scrappers went back to work in the fourth already leading 5-1.  The big blow in the six-run fourth was a triple by Juan Romero that saw the Scrappers forge ahead to an 11-1 lead by the time the smoke cleared.

One of the best stories of the year has been Joey Wendle.  The sixth-round choice of the Indians in the 2012 Draft has quietly made a very smooth transition to third base.  Ever since Kubiak tried that experiment, Wendle has made a great defensive play to kill the opposing team’s momentum almost each night.  So far it has been a terrific move by Kubiak.  Wendle is also hitting about .400 against left-handed pitching.  He may not be in a Scrappers uniform very long.

Luis Encarnacion relieved DeJesus to start the sixth inning.  DeJesus scattered five hits and walked four.  The Ironbirds seemed to hit the ball hard off of him, but usually right at a Scrapper.  DeJesus has had better outings, but it is a win for the 6′ 3″ rightie.

Aberdeen picked away at the Scrappers bullpen and managed to score a few runs in the sixth to make it 11-4.  Staying focused has to be hard with that big of a lead.

Frustration set in for the Ironbirds when this game was already pretty much decided.  First baseman, Cameron Edmon, was ejected for arguing a called strike three.  Aberdeen Manager, Gary Allenson, followed Edmon to the showers after a lengthy display of dissatisfaction with the umpires.  Later in the same inning, Field Coach, Brad Komminsk, was tossed out for debating a timeout granted to a Scrappers hitter.  I think the bus driver for Aberdeen was calling pitches by the eighth inning.

Things escalated when Valerio hit a long fly to the warning track in center field in the bottom of the eighth.  As the ball was caught and Valerio decelerated between first and second, either the pitcher or second baseman said something to annoy Valerio.  Both bullpens and benches emptied but no punches were thrown

Luis Head pitched a scoreless two innings of relief in a good appearance for the Scrappers.  James Stokes pitched the ninth.