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Down the drain again
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PICKOFF ATTEMPT: Scrappers pitcher, P.J. Zocchi, right, watches as first baseman Zach Booker, center, tries to tag out Andy Simunic of the Tri-City ValleyCats at first base during Sunday's game at Eastwood Field.
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LONG GONE: Donnie Webb of the Mahoning Valley Scrappers hits a solo home run in the second inning of Sunday's game against the Tri-City ValleyCats at Eastwood Field.
By Steve Ruman
’Cats shower Scrappers with another defeat
Eastwood Field fans endured a two-hour delay before the game began.
NILES — For much of the late afternoon Sunday, it rained cats and dogs at Eastwood Field, forcing nearly a two-hour delay to the start of the New York-Penn League game between Tri-City and Mahoning Valley.
When the game finally did commence, the Cats got the best of the Dawgs, as the ValleyCats defeated the Scrappers 2-1.
Intermittent showers fell throughout the contest, which was attended by an announced crowd of 2,729. The final inning was played amidst a downpour.
The loss was the Scrappers’ fifth straight, and drops their record to 22-30. Tri-City, now winners of three straight, improve to 22-28.
“It’s tough playing in these conditions, but its just something we have to play through and deal with,” Scrappers outfielder Donnie Webb said. “All of the sitting around waiting to play gets on your nerves. Last week on the road, we had back-to-back rain delays of more than two hours, and now this.
“We’ve seemed to face this all summer. But it’s just part of baseball.”
Webb supplied the Scrappers’ only offense of the night when he belted his first professional home run — a towering shot over the left-centerfield wall — to lead off the second inning.
“It was nice to see it go over the fence. I was a leadoff hitter in college, so hitting home runs is a rare feat for me,” Webb said.
Webb’s solo blast gave the Scrappers a 1-0 lead they would maintain until the fifth inning, thanks to the pitching of P.J. Zocchi. The right-hander kept the ValleyCats scoreless while surrendering just one hit and striking out six through four innings. However, in the fifth, Zocchi surrendered a leadoff infield single to Ronald Ramirez, then gave up a two-run home run to ValleyCats leadoff hitter J.B. Shuck.
Shuck, who hails from Galion, was selected by the Houston Astros in the sixth round of the June draft out of Ohio State.
Saturday Shuck went 3-for-5 with an RBI.
Shuck’s heroics would be all the ValleyCats would need, thanks to strong pitching performances by starter Shane Wolf and relievers Phil Rummel and Kirkland Rivers. The three combined to surrender just the one run on eight hits while recording 10 strikeouts.
Zocchi (3-3) was the tough-luck loser, while Mike McGuire and Carlos Arias combined to keep the ValleyCats scoreless through the final 42‚Ñ3 innings.
“Right now, we just need to start hitting the ball more and we need to find our groove. We’ve been in a slump before and we bounced out of it. We need to do the same thing now,” Webb said.
The two teams will conclude their three game series tonight at 7:05.
———
TRI-CITYSCRAPPERS
abrhbiabrhbi
Shuck lf5112Velasquez 2b3000
Steele cf5010Phelps 2b2000
Disher 1b3000WDiaz 3b3000
Castro c3010Chisenhall ss3010
Flores 3b3000Tice dh4010
Diaz dh4010Webb lf4121
Simunic 2b3010Booker 1b4000
Gaston rf4010Blair rf4000
Hulett pr0000MValadez c4020
Meier rf0000Armstrong pr0000
RoRamirez ss4110Federoff cf4020
Totals34272Totals35181
Tri-City000020000—2
Scrappers010000000—1
E—Flores (16), Chisenhall (13), Velasquez (14). DP—Tri-City 1. LOB—Tri-City 10, Scrappers 9. 2B—Diaz (7), Federoff (1). HR—Shuck (2), Webb (1). SB—Steele (6), Chisenhall (6). CS—Simunic (3). S—Flores.
IPHRERBBSO
Tri-City
Wolf451115
Rummel W, 2-0310011
Rivers S, 2220004
Scrappers
Zocchi L, 3-34 1-332236
McGuire2 2-310004
CArias230002
WP—McGuire. HBP—by Zocchi (Disher). Umpires—Home, Mathier Moisans; Bases, Matt Jones. T—3:00. A—2,729.
HOW THEY SCORED
Scrappers 2nd — Donnie Webb homered to left-center. Zach Booker struck out swinging. Ryan Blair grounded out to first, 3-U. Michael Valadez singled up the middle. Tim Fedroff singled up the middle, Valadez advanced to third. Isaias Velasquez struck out swinging. 1 run, 3 hits, 0 errors, 2 LOB
Tri-City 5th — Ronald Ramirez reached on an infield single. J.B. Shuck homered to right, Ramirez scored. T.J. Steele reached on an error by the second baseman. Steele stole second base. Phil Disher struck out swinging. Jason Castro reached on a walk. Steele advanced to third on a wild pitch. David Flores popped out to first. Michael Diaz struck out swinging. 2 runs, 2 hits, 1 error, 1 LOB