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Awesome Aussie gives Scrappers a lift
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Jason Smit (6) of the Scrappers beats the throw as Kyle Morgan is pulled off the bag during the game Monday, June 22, 2009.
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SCRAPPERS - Carl Uhl (2) of Williamsport beats Short Stop Kyle Smith to the bag Thursday night at Eastwood Field.
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SCRAPPERS - Catcher Sebastian Valle goes after a loose ball as (22) Kyle Bellows holds a teammate on third Thursday night at Eastwood Field.
WILLIAMSPORT 4, MAHONING VALLEY 3
Outfielder Jason Smit will play just about anywhere on the field, and he can hit pretty well.
By JOE SCALZO
Vindicator sportS staff
NILES — Scrappers outfielder Jason Smit spent his first two years in the Indians’ organization playing in the Gulf Coast League, which has a lot more humidity than fans.
So playing in front of a few thousand people every night at Eastwood Field has been a blessing, even on nights like Thursday when beer costs $1 and fans were generous both with their jeers and their George Washingtons.
“We had a couple guys behind us who had a few too many beers,” said Smit following a 4-3 loss to the Williamsport Crosscutters. “They were having a crack at us, but hey, it’s all in good fun. Mostly, it’s a helluva thrill to play in front of people for once.”
Smit, a native of Hillarys, Australia, has won over fans over with his play (he’s batting .320) and his generosity (he gave away one of his bats to a young fan, in addition to doing autograph duty). He’s won his teammates over with his sense of humor, laughing off jokes about Outback Steakhouse, Crocodile Dundee and the clubhouse Kangaroo Court.
“Half the time, no one can understand what I’m saying,” he said, grinning. “I’ll say something and all the guys manage to have a crack at me, but it’s all in good fun, so I’ve gotten used to it.”
That outlook has helped him deal with the biggest setback of his career. Two years ago, he came to the Indians as a 17-year-old shortstop. But he missed much of last year with a shoulder injury. After rehabbing for nearly five months, he offered to move to the outfield.
“I’ll do whatever I can to get at-bats,” said Smit, who also fills in at first base.
Smit has packed on almost 40 pounds over the past two years — he weighed about 150 pounds when he first arrived in the states — and can easily pack a few more onto his 6-foot frame without losing the speed that has allowed him to leg out three triples so far this season.
Smit hit his third triple on Thursday and also had a single and scored a run, raising his batting average to .320.
“Everything is kind of working for me right now,” he said. “I’ve worked a lot with [hitting coach] Phil Clark and it’s been a big help.”
Smit has several more summers to develop, especially since he gets two summers (and two springs) every year, splitting time between the northern and southern hemisphere and avoiding the bad weather in each.
“I’m pretty lucky,” he said.
Manager Travis Fryman said he has been impressed both with Smit’s attitude and his improvement.
“He’s done great,” Fryman said. “He’s a great kid and he’s had a tough last year and a half. We weren’t sure what his future looked like in the outfield but to his credit, he worked hard and played well.
“He’s playing and working his way into a kid that makes us ask questions about his future. And they’re good kinds of questions.”
The Scrappers fell behind 4-1 after seven innings Thursday but almost rallied in the ninth by scoring two runs. They had the tying run on first base with nobody out in the ninth, but a strikeout, a sacrifice fly and a groundout ended the threat.
Preston Guilmet (0-2) started and gave up three runs in four innings to get the loss. Jeremy Johnson pitched three solid innings of relief, giving up one run, and Tyler Sturdevant tossed two shutout innings to end it.
Greg Folgia (one hit, one run), Tim Palincsar (single) and Jordan Henry (single) provided the rest of the offense for Mahoning Valley (8-6), which had just five hits and is batting .243 on the season.
“Not much offense tonight,” said Fryman. “Opportunities were few and far between.”
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WilliamsportScrappers
abrhbiabrhbi
James cf4120Basabe 2b4000
Dabbs rf5000Folgia lf3110
J.Barnes ss4220Bellows 3b4000
Valle c5033Allman dh3100
Batts 1b5010J.Smit 1b4121
Lafrenz dh5000Ch.Chen c3001
E.Porter 2b5000K.Smith ss4000
Schnbrgr 3b4111Palincsar rf3011
Uhl lf3020J.Henry cf4010
Totals404114Totals32353
Williamsport111000100—4
Scrappers000001002—3
E—J. Barnes 2 (6), Basabe (10), K.Smith (2). LOB—Williamsport 12, Scrappers 6. 2B—Valle (2), J.Barnes (4). 3B—Valle (1), J.Smit (3). HR—Schoenberger (1), SB—Uhl (1), Allman (1). SF—Palincsar.
IPHRERBBSO
Williamsport
N.Hernandez W, 1-0530014
Arroyo H, 1211111
J.Long S, 4212111
Scrappers
Guilmet L, 0-2453335
J.Johnson341103
Sturdevant220004
WP—Guilmet. Umpires—Home, Chris Nguyen; Bases, Joe Muenzer. T—2:46. A—2,967.
HOW THEY SCORED
Crosscutters 1st — James infield single. With Dabbs batting, James to 2nd on wild pitch. Dabbs strikes out swinging. Barnes flies out (F-9). Valle triples to left, James scores. Batts pops out (F-4). 1 run, 2 hits, 0 errors, 1 LOB.
Crosscutters 2nd — Lafrenz flies out (F-7). Porter flies out (F-9). Schoenberger homers to right. Uhl singles to short. James grounds out (G-3). 1 run, 2 hits, 0 errors, 1 LOB.
Crosscutters 3rd — Dabbs strikes out swinging. Barnes walks. Valle doubles to center, Barnes scores. Batts grounds out (5-3). Lafrenz strikes out swinging.
Scrappers 6th — Pitching change: Arroyo replaces Hernandez. Folgia walks. Bellows grounds out (5-3), Folgia to 2nd. Allman grounds out (5-3). Smit triples to left, Folgia scores. Chen strikes out looking. 1 run, 1 hit, 0 errors, 1 LOB.
Crosscutters 7th — Barnes doubles to center. Valle singles to left, Barnes scores. Batts grounds out (5-3), Valle to 2nd. Lafrenz grounds out (4-3), Valle to 3rd. Porter flies out (F-9). 1 run, 2 hits, 0 errors, 1 LOB.
Scrappers 9th — Allman walks. With Smit batting, Allman steals 2nd. Smit singles to right, Allman to 3rd. Chen reaches on throwing error (E-6), Allman scores, Smit to 3rd. Smith strikes out looking. Palincsar sacrifice fly to right (F-9), Smit scores. Henry grounds out (4-3). 2 runs, 1 hit, 1 error, 1 LOB.
scalzo@vindy.com