By JOE SCALZO

By JOE SCALZO

VINDICATOR SPORTS STAFF

NILES — His teammates were already starting to trickle into the locker room and the Eastwood Field crowd turned its attention to the fireworks above, but Jeff Hehr’s night was far from over.

The Cardinal Mooney High graduate — who reached base four times, scored twice, played flawlessly at second base and carried the expectations of his hometown on his shoulders — was immediately targeted for a live television interview, a taped television interview and two newspaper interviews.

Ten minutes later, as the fireworks display was finishing, Hehr was still standing near the right field stands signing autographs, enjoying the first big night of his professional career.

“It was a lot of fun tonight,” Hehr said. “It felt great to have so many people cheering for me. A lot of people I know came out tonight.

Sellout crowd

Oh, and the Mahoning Valley Scrappers won their home opener 8-1 Friday night in front of a sellout crowd of 6,487 at Eastwood Field.

“It was a great atmosphere,” Hehr said.

Over the past three weeks, Hehr has been transformed from a talented shortstop playing in relative anonymity at Eastern Michigan to arguably the most publicized player in the New York-Penn League.

So far, he’s handled the transition pretty well — on and off the field.

“It was nice to get a hit in my first at-bat,” said Hehr, whose second-inning single was also the Scrappers’ first hit. “That took some of the pressure off.”

Hehr, who has played shortstop his entire career, is still adjusting to playing second base, but you wouldn’t know it from watching him. He started a double play in the top of the first inning, had three putouts and even made a nifty barehanded play in the seventh inning.

“I’m still getting my footwork down,” Hehr said. “I played second base for maybe four or five games in college.”

Although the fan support didn’t hurt, Hehr’s performance would have attracted attention whether he was the hometown hero or not.

“Oh, you have to talk to him,” his manager, Tim Laker, said. “He had a pretty good night, playing in front of his hometown crowd.”

When asked if he’s getting any ribbing from his teammates about the media attention, Hehr laughed and said, “Yeah, a little bit.”

Lots of Scrapper standouts

Of course, he wasn’t the only one who had a good night.

Starting pitcher Dan Frega, who was making his first start after relieving last season for Mahoning Valley, gave up one run on two hits over five innings to earn the victory. Garrett Rieck, a 29th round draft pick, pitched four scoreless innings of relief, giving up just one hit with two walks and three strikeouts.

Mahoning Valley (3-1) took two of three against Jamestown on the road to open the season, mainly through the strength of its pitching. Through four games this year, the Scrappers have given up just five runs.

“You couldn’t ask for any more of our pitching,” said Laker.

“[Frega] did a great job for five innings and we got really good defense. I think the thing that’s stood out so far for us is our pitching and defense.”

Leadoff hitter Adam White, a ninth round pick out of West Virginia, went 2-for-5 with a triple, a run scored and an RBI. Juan Valdes walked three times and scored twice and Matt Brown had the game’s biggest hit, a two-run double in the eighth that put the game out of reach.

Davis Bilardello got the loss for Batavia (1-3), giving up three runs (two earned) in 22⁄3 innings of relief. His replacement, Wayne Daman, didn’t fare any better, surrendering four runs in 11⁄3 innings.

BATAVIASCRAPPERS

abrhbiabrhbi

DeJesus lf3010White cf5121

Phem cf4010Thompson ss3011

Brown 1b4000Mills dh5000

Hill c4000Petrucci 3b5000

Descalzo 2b2100Pacheo 1b 3211

Derba dh2010Valdes lf1200

Cartle 3b3011Hehr 2b 3220

Marquez rf3000Brown rf3112

Oeder ss3000Castillo c4011

Totals28141Totals32885

Batavia000100000—1

Scrappers01011104x—8

E—Cartie 2, Oeder. DP—Batavia 1, Scrappers 2. LOB—Batavia 3, Scrappers 8. 2B—Brown. 3B—White.

IPHRERBBSO

Batavia

Eager311022

Bilardello L, 0-12 2-313232

Daman1 1-344413

Gonzalez120002

Scrappers

Frega W, 1-0531123

Rieck S, 1410023

HBP—by Eager (CThompson), by Eager (CThompson), by Frega (Derba). b Umpires—Home, Ben Karis; First, Tyler Wilson. T—2:35. A—6,487.

HOW THEY SCORED

Scrappers 2nd — Pacheco walks. Valdes walks, Pacheco to 2nd. Hehr singles to center, Pacheco to 3rd, Valdes to 2nd. Brown grounds into double play (4-6-3), Hehr out at 2nd, Pacheco scores, Valdes to 3rd. Castillo flied (F-4). 1 run, 1 hit, 1 error, 1 LOB.

Muckdogs 4th — Brown grounds out (5-3). Hill grounds out (5-3). DeScalso walks. Derba hit by pitch, DeScalso to 2nd. Cartie singles to center, DeScalso scores, Derba forced out (8-3-5). 1 run, 1 hit, 0 errors, 1 LOB.

Scrappers 4th — Pacheco flies out (F-9). Valdes walks, moves to 2nd on wild pitch. Hehr walks. Brown grounds into fielder’s choice (3-6). With Castillo batting, Valdes scores on wild pitch. Castillo strikes out looking. 1 run, 0 hits, 0 errors, 1 LOB.

Scrappers 5th — White triples. With Thompson batting, White scores on a wild pitch. Thompson grounds out (6-3). Mills grounds out (3-1). Petrucci flies out (F-9). 1 run, 1 hit, 0 errors, 0 LOB.

Scrappers 6th — Pacheco flies out (F-8). Valdes strikes out swinging. Hehr reaches on error (E-6). Brown walks, Hehr to 2nd. Castillo singles to center, Hehr scores, Brown to 2nd. White grounds out (3-1). 1 run, 1 hit, 1 error, 2 LOB.

Scrappers 8th — Pacheco singles to left. Valdes walks, Pacheco to 2nd. Hehr reaches on bunt single, Pacheco to 3rd, Valdes to 2nd. Brown doubles to right center, Pacheco scores, Valdes scores, Hehr to 3rd. Castillo strikes out looking. White reaches on infield single, Hehr scores, Brown to 2nd. Thompson singles to right, Brown scores, White to 3rd. Mills strikes out swinging. Petrucci grounds out (4-3). 4 runs, 5 hits, 0 errors, 2 LOB.

scalzo@vindy.com