roundup News and notes

Who’s hot: Danny Morales has responded brilliantly out of the bullpen, going 2-0 with a 0.77 ERA. The righthander has worked 112‚Ñ3 innings, surrendering just one earned run while walking four and striking out 13 in eight games. ... Although he struggled early in the season, David Roberts has turned it on recently. In his last three outings, Roberts has allowed no earned runs on just three hits spanning 62‚Ñ3 innings. He walked just one and struck out three during that time to reduce his ERA to 2.81. ... Ryan Blair has picked things up at the plate in the past two weeks, going 14-for-37 (.378) to push his season mark to .294. In three of his last four outings, Blair has gone 6-for-14 (.429) with a double, one triple and one walk while driving in three runs.

Who’s not: Since joining the club after completing his college with Rice in the recent NCAA World Series, Matt Langwell has struggled. In two outings spanning 62‚Ñ3 innings he has given up 13 hits and eight earned runs for an ERA of 11.37. In his NYPL league debut one week ago, he only lasted 21‚Ñ3 innings against Vermont. In that game, Langwell allowed five earned runs on eight hits including a pair of home runs. ... Although he’s batting .321, Brock Simpson has hit some rough sledding during the past week. He has three hits in 14 at-bats. ... Through his last seven games, Juan Valdes has gone 5-for-29 to see his average dip to .234. Of Valdes’ five hits, three of them came in one game. ... After starting the season by going 9-for-40 (.225),Corteze Armstrong has gone hitless in his last 27 at-bats with 10 strikeouts.

Closing the gap: Although they didn’t move up in the standings, the Scrappers and Crosscutters have both been on a roll of late. Prior to Saturday night’s game at Bowman Field, the Scrappers had won four of their last five while the Crosscutters were enjoying an eight-game win streak. The Cutters were only a half-game out of second place, while the Scrappers were 11‚Ñ2 games behind Williamsport, two games out of the second slot in the Pinckney Division.

All in the family: When the Scrappers were taking batting practice and warming up for the game, there was not only one, but two Frymans on the field. During the trip to Lowell and now in Williamsport, Brandon, the middle of three sons of Scrapper manager Travis Fryman accompanied his father on the trip. “It is pretty difficult to divide time among three sons while managing a team,” said Fryman. “I try to take each one of them along with me on one road trip and this time, it was Brandon’s turn. He is having a ball and to be honest about it, he is a pretty good helper as well.”

Bill Albright