Guilmet strong in Scrappers’ 3-2 win

Starter Preston Guilmet pitched seven strong innings in his best outing of the season.

By CHUCK HOUSTEAU

THe Vindicator

NILES — It was only fitting that Mahoning Valley Scrappers pitcher Preston Guilmet caught a pop up off the bat of Oneonta’s Wade Gaynor to end the seventh inning Friday night.

Guilmet smiled, tapped the chest of his catcher Chun Chen and trotted to the dugout with the two New-York Penn League teams tied at 1-1.

The righthander out of the University of Arizona had just pitched his professional high in innings and perhaps his best game of his pro career but he was more happy he caught the infield fly.

“I was looking for help and it never came,” Guilmet said. “It was more of a smile of ‘Wow, I caught that.’ ”

Guilmet (2-2) got plenty of help two innings later when Kyle Bellows blasted a two-run single to center to give Mahoning Valley (18-11) a 3-2 victory over the Tigers.

Vidal Nuno (1-0) pitched the final two innings to earn the victory but not before some ninth inning drama.

Nuno loaded the bases with no outs in the top of the ninth after giving up a single, double and an intentional walk.

Oneonta’s John Murrian then singled to drive in one run before Nuno regrouped to quell the threat.

Nuno got a strikeout and a foul pop out before striking out pitch hitter Keith Hernandez to end the game.

“It was a little bit hairy,” said Scrappers manager Travis Fryman. “It was a little bit more hairier than you’d like it to be. I’d rather win games 10-1 but it was good to come out on top of this one.”

Guilmet said it felt good to be able to help out his team.

“I felt good,” Guilmet said. “It was better than it’s been the last couple of outings. I threw a lot of fast balls and challenged a lot of guys and located my pitches very well.”

Guilmet allowed only four hits and no walks while striking out two in his best effort of the season. Guilmet lowered his ERA to 3.72.

“Alot of it is just getting used to being here and being in a 5-man rotation coming out of college and battling some arm fatigue and getting over that.”

Bellows turned the game in Mahoning Valley’s favor when he came to the plate in the eighth inning with the bases loaded and no outs.

“He got me down 0-2 but I fought off some tough pitches,” Bellows said. “When I got the count to 3-2 and I got a pitch to hit right up the middle.”

The single scored Kyle Smith who had walked and Jason Smit who was on base after getting hit by a pitch.

“This group is resilient,” Fryman said. “These guys play hard. They’ve done that from the start. They’ve meshed very quickly and became friends.

“I think it’s a team of overachievers.”

The Scrappers will try to sweep the series tonight when they take on the Tigers at 5:05 pm.

———

OneontaScrappers

abrhbiabrhbi

J.Johnson cf4010J.Henry cf4010

M.Rockett rf4110K.Smith ss3110

Bishop 1b4010J.Smit rf2100

A.Espinoza dh3000Ch.Chen c3000

Roof c3111Bellows 3b4012

J.Murrian ph1011Carlson 1b2000

C.Sedon pr0000Palncsr ph-rf1000

W.Gaynor 3b4000Folgia lf3000

Mansilla lf4010Vera dh4110

C.Jaime 2b3010Basabe 2b4021

K.Hernndz ph1000

J.Gulliver ss3010

Totals34282Totals30363

Oneonta000010001—2

Scrappers00001002x—3

E—Roof (1). DP—Scrappers 1. LOB—Oneonta 6, Scrappers 9. 2B—Bishop (3). 3B—Vera (1). HR—Roof (1). SB—Basabe (3), J.Henry (11).

IPHRERBBSO

Oneonta

Wilk541111

LaLuna L,1-2212220

J.Ortega110013

Scrappers

Guilmet741102

V.Nuno W,1-0241114

LaLuna pitched to 3 batters in 8th. HBP—Carlson (by LaLuna), J. Smit (by LaLuna). Umpires—Home, Robert Calvert; Bases, Garrett Cole. T—2:23. A—3,203.

HOW THEY SCORED

Oneonta 5th — Roof homered to right field. Gaynor flied out to right field. Mansilla grounded out to third. Jaime singled to left field. Gulliver flied out to right field. 1 run, 2 hits, 0 errors, 1 LOB.

Scrappers 5th — Folgia grounded out to second. Vera tripled to right field. Basabe singled to right field, scoring Vera. With Henry batting, Basabe stole 2nd. Henry grounded out to shortstop, Basabe to 3rd. Smith grounded out to pitcher. 1 run, 2 hits, 0 errors, 1 LOB.

Scrappers 8th — Smith walked. Smit hit by pitch, Smith to 2nd. Chen walked, Smith to 3rd, Smit to 2nd. Pitching change: Ortega replaced LaLuna. Bellows singled to center field, scoring Smith and Smit; Bellows to 2nd, Chen to 3rd on missed catch error by Roof. Substitution: Pinch hitter Palincsar replaced Carlson. Palincsar struck out, thrown out at first. Folgia walked intentionally. Vera struck out. Basabe struck out. 2 runs, 1 hit, 1 error, 3 LOB.

Oneonta 9th — Rockett singled to right field. Bishop doubled to center field, Rockett to 3rd. Espinoza intentionally walked. Murrian singled to left field, scoring Rockett, Bishop to 3rd, Espinoza to 2nd. Gaynor struck out. Mansilla fouled out to first baseman. Hernandez struck out. 1 run, 3 hits, 0 errors, 3 LOB.