High pick Kipnis leads Scrappers to 4th win in row

The former Arizona State player scored twice in a 4-1 victory over Auburn.

By RYAN JONES

VINDICATOR CORRESPONDENT

NILES — Jason Kipnis took little time to make an impact in his professional debut.

Kipnis, the Cleveland Indians second-round pick from Arizona State University, went 2-for-2 as the Scrappers (28-17) toppled the Auburn Doubledays (16-29) 4-1 to earn their fourth consecutive victory.

Kipnis, who played in only three innings as part of his rehab assignment, singled home teammate Jordan Henry in the first inning to tie the game 1-1. Kipnis came home on Greg Folgia’s double to right center.

“I’ve been with the team for the past couple of weeks rehabbing an elbow injury,” Kipnis said. “I was a little nervous tonight, but it was good to feel some nerves.

“But once you step back in between the lines, it all kind of comes back to you,” Kipnis said. “I saw some pitches, got comfortable in there and I was fortunate to put the ball in play. I found some holes out there today.”

In the third inning, Kipnis tripled down the right-field line and later scored on Folgia’s base hit to right to push the lead to 3-1.

“It was a great way to start a professional career,” Scrappers manager Travis Fryman said about Kipnis’ performance. “If you watch him in batting practice, you know he’s got the potential to swing a pretty fine bat.”

For the fourth game of the homestand, the Scrappers received strong performances on the mound.

Starter Preston Guilmet (4-2) allowed one run in five innings to earn the victory and Guido Fonseca and Cory Burns tossed four shutout innings in relief.

“I don’t mind our pitching being a redundant topic of discussion,” Fryman said. “I’ve played on many teams where there wasn’t a whole lot of pitching and I don’t care if it’s the New York-Penn League or the major leagues, it’s nice to have quality starting pitching and we certainly had that again tonight.”

Guilmet surrendered the Doubledays’ lone run in the top of the first inning when leadoff batter Ryan Schimpf homered to right field.

Fryman said he wasn’t concerned with the leadoff homer.

“I don’t care if my pitcher gives up a home run right there,” he said. “I like to see my pitchers challenge hitters by pounding the strike zone and when you face guys that have some ability every now and again that’s going to happen,” Fryman said. “What I liked was the first pitch after the home run, it was a good hard strike down in the zone and that told me Preston was going to be just fine.”

The Scrappers were active on the base paths. Henry stole his team leading 13th base in the first inning while Kipnis and