Henry born to run bases

Photo by: Geoffrey Hauschild

Photo

The Scrappers' Jordan Henry arrives safely at third base beating the throw to Staten Island Yankee Kelvin Castro during the bottom of the sixth inning at Eastwood Field on Wednesday evening.

Staten Island walloped the Scrappers, 9-1.

By Joe Scalzo

NILES — The Mahoning Valley Scrappers lost 9-1 to the Staten Island Yankees on Wednesday at Eastwood Field, which is why the first half of this story is going to be devoted to Jordan Henry.

Frankly, the less said about Wednesday’s game, the better.

Henry, a 6-foot, 170-pound center fielder from Ole Miss, has been arguably the best position player for the Scrappers through the team’s first month.

He leads the team in batting (.320), doubles (six), on base percentage (.448, which is second in the league), walks (17) and stolen bases (eight).

“He’s an impressive player,” Scrappers manager Travis Fryman said. “His baserunning is tremendous. He’s probably the best baserunner I’ve had in my two years here. Very aware. And I love his defense out there.”

“He’s a very important guy to our ballclub, obviously.”

Batting in the leadoff spot, Henry went 2-for-5 on Wednesday, reached base three times and scored the Scrappers’ only run.

A seventh-round pick in June’s draft, he’s acclimated himself quickly to pro baseball.

“I’ve enjoyed it,” said Henry. “I’m getting used to the pro ball thing, playing every day. You have to come out and have that same mentality every day. It’s a little different than college.”

Fortunately, he was prepared. Henry’s older brother, Justin, played one year in the New York-Penn League for Oneonta and now plays for the Lakeland Flying Tigers of the Class A Advanced Florida State League.

“We’ve always been really close in everything we do,” Henry said. “We’re three years apart and we played one year together at Ole Miss, which was a good experience.

“My brother played up here [at Eastwood Field] a couple years ago so he kind of told me a little bit. I heard Mahoning Valley was one of the nicer places in the New York-Penn League. It had a nice field, nice location and everything.”

Henry is from Mississippi, so he’s new to Ohio. (When told his accent isn’t as noticeable as one might expect, he chuckled and said, “That’s what everybody says. It’s not as bad as some people from down there.”) But he’s felt right at home in Niles, batting .367 at Eastwood Field entering Wednesday’s game.

“I’m just trying to get on base, see a lot of pitches, work the counts, get a certain pitch to hit,” he said. “Just trying to be patient up there.”

Added Fryman, “Boy, he’s real comfortable getting deep in counts, finding a way to get on base.”

The rest of the Scrappers didn’t have a problem getting on base Wednesday night — they had seven hits, two walks and twice reached on errors — but they batted 0-for-12 with runners in scoring position.

“Just one of those nights,” Henry said. “They pitched well, hit the ball well. They played better baseball.

“You’ve just got to forget about it. Flush it and move on to the next game.”

Louisville native Kyle Smith (0-1), a 20th-round pick out of Kent State, made his second start and gave up three runs (two earned) on four hits in five innings.

Staten Island put the game away in the sixth inning, scoring six runs off reliever Nick Kirk — including four on a grand slam by Neil Medchill.

Trailing 5-1 with a runner on and one out, Fryman actually opted to walk Staten Island’s No. 3 and 4 hitters to get to Medchill, who happens to lead the NYPL in home runs (six).

Medchill hit Kirk’s first pitch into the right field bullpen.

“Obviously, my decision to try to get out of that inning without giving up another run didn’t work out so friggin’ good,” Fryman said. “It worked out good for [Medchill], not so good for me.”

Ben Carlson and Greg Folgia each had two hits for Mahoning Valley (16-10), which has lost two straight. Antwonie Hubbard and Jose Urena each added no-hit innings of relief to close out the game for the Scrappers.

Ryan Baker and Deangelo Mack homered for Staten Island (13-13).

scalzo@vindy.com

Staten IslandScrappers

abrhbiabrhbi

Paredes 2b4221Henry cf5120

Landoni 2b1000Smith ss4000

Angelini ss 5000Smit rf3010

Almonte cf4111Chen c4001

Higashioka c4100Bellows 3b4000

Medchill lf4124Carlson 1b4020

Gross lf0000Folgia lf4020

Castro 3b5110Vera dh4000

Mack rf5132Basabe 2b3000

Baker dh3111

Murton 1b4110

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Staten Island001200600—9

Scrappers000001000—1

E—Angelini (2), MEdchill (1), Basabe (14), Bellows (6). DP—Scrappers 1. LOB—Staten Island 7, Scrappers 9. 2B—Paraedes (4), Folgia (1). HR—Mack (1), Baker (1), Medchill (6). SB—Smith (4), Henry (8).

IPHRERBBSO

Staten Island

Black W, 1-0530011

Patterson H, 1101002

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Bailey120003

Scrappers

Smith L, 0-1553210

Kirk266621

Hubbard100000

Urena100010

WP—Bailey. Umpires—Home, Garrett Corl; Bases, Robert Calvert. T—2:30. A—2,237.

HOW THEY SCORED

Yankees 3rd — Paredes doubles to right. Angelini grounds out (4-3), Paredes to 3rd. Almonte doubles to left, Paredes scores. Higashioka flies out (F-8). Medchill grounds out (G-3). 1 run, 2 hits, 0 errors, 1 LOB.

Yankees 4th — Castro reaches on throwing error (E-5), Castro to 2nd. Mack homers to right, Castro scores. Baker grounds out (5-3). Murton flies out (F-8). Paredes grounds out (G-3). 2 runs, 1 hit, 1 error, 0 LOB.

Scrappers 6th — Pitching change: Patterson replaces Black. Henry reaches on fielding error (E-6). Smith reaches on fielding error (E-7), Henry to 2nd. With Smit batting, Henry steals 3rd, Smith steals 2nd. Smit strikes out swinging. Chen grounds out (5-3), Henry scores. Bellows strikes out swinging. 1 run, 0 hits, 2 errors, 1 LOB.

Yankees 7th — Baker homers to center. Murton singles to center. Paredes triples to center, Murton scores. Angelini flies out (F-9). Almonte walks intentionally. Higashioka walks intentionally, Almonte to 2nd. Medchill homers to right, Paredes, Almonte, Higashioka all score. Castro singles to short. Mack singles to short, Castro to 2nd. Baker pops out (F-4). Murton flies out (F-8). 6 runs, 6 hits, 0 errors, 2 LOB.

Who: Scrappers vs. Staten Island Yankees. When: 7:05 p.m. at Eastwood Field. Promotions: For Buck Night, general admission tickets, hot dogs and 16-ounce soft drinks cost $1. It’s also Irish Night, with an appearance scheduled by Playboy model Lisa Neeld.

Tickets: (330) 505-0000. Radio: WNIO-AM 1390.