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Scrappers don’t make it easy, but manage to pull out a victory
Photo
Scrapper shortstop Nick Bartolone, left, tags out Adalberto Santos of the State College Spikes, who was attempting to steal second base, in Tuesday’s New York-Penn League game at Eastwood Field.
NYPL scholarships: Jay Rowland of Warren Harding High School was one of 14 finalists for scholarships awarded by the New York-Penn League. The league has one finalist for each of the NYPL team markets and of those 14, three are selected for $2,500 scholarships, while the other 11 all receive $250 scholarships. Rowland was a $250 winner. The three top winners, one from each of the league’s division included Victoria Gurrieri of Staten Island, N.Y. (McNamara); Nathan Weber of Williamsport, Pa. (Pinckney) and Brendan Blendell of Albany, N.Y. (Stedler).
Roster change: Richard Martinez, a 23-year-old catcher from Valencia, Venezuela has been assigned to the Scrappers from Triple-A Columbus. Martinez, a non-drafted free agent, was hitting just .174 with Columbus, but had played just seven games with 23 at bats.
Around the NYPL: Justin Anderson allowed one hit over five innings before Ashur Tolliver and Steve Mazur finished off Aberdeen’s third one-hit shutout of the year in the IronBirds’ 3-0 blanking of the Staten Island Yankees on Tuesday. Anderson gave up the lone hit of the game to the Yankees’ leadoff hitter, Shane Brown, who singled to right field to begin the game. Tim Adleman and T.R. Keating combined on the last one-hitter Aug. 2, a 6-0 win over Staten Island. That gem came a month after Justin Moore tossed six hitless innings and combined with two relievers on a one-hitter in the IronBirds’ 5-0 win over Hudson Valley on July 2. Anderson struck out five and lowered his ERA to 5.92.
By PETE MOLLICA
NILES
Mahoning Valley Scrappers manager Travis Fryman has been in a lot of 1-0 ball games throughout hits career as a player and manager, but probably never had one like Tuesday night’s Scrappers 1-0 victory over the State College Spikes at Eastwood Field.
The win was the second straight over the Spikes and third in the last four games as the Scrappers improved to 28-36 in the Pinckney Division of the New York-Penn League before just 2,020 fans.
“In the first seven innings they had their leadoff batter on base six times and didn’t score,” Fryman said. “You’re not going to see that happen too many times.
“We didn’t have real good pitching early in the game, but we managed to come up with some big plays and kept them from scoring,” he added. “We didn’t play well, but we made a lot of good plays tonight.”
The game’s only run came in the first inning when Scrappers’ leadoff hitter Nick Bartolone doubled down the left field line, took third on a passed ball and scored on an infield grounder by Richard Martinez which State College pitcher Zack Dodson had trouble fielding.
That was the only real scoring threat the Scrappers had in the contest, although they out-hit the Spikes 7-4 with Bartolone and Kevin Rucker each getting two hits apiece.
“We’re playing better, we’ve been getting better pitching and we’ve had some pretty good offense and we’ve won five of our last six series,” Fryman said.
“And we’ve been doing it without our top hitter, Giovanny Urshela, who is still recovering from an injury,” he added. “He’s missed eight games now and still leads the team in RBIs and average, but he should be back in a few more days.”
Mike Rayl started and went the first four innings and had to pitch out of jam in three of the four. He walked two batters in the first inning and still retired the Spikes in order as he picked off one runner and catcher Moises Montero threw out the other one trying to steal second.
Gregorio Rosario (1-1) picked up the win with two innings of relief, while J.D. Goryl and Clayton Ehlert finished the rotation. Ehlert retired the Spikes in order in the ninth to get the save.
The Scrappers allowed just four base hits, but issued eight walks. Twice the Spikes had bases loaded, once in the seventh inning with only one out, but Goryl struck out one batter and got the final out on a grounder.
The Spikes had runners on second and third with one out in the sixth, but Scrappers first baseman Jesus Aguilar made a big play getting Matt Skirving’s grounder and then throwing to second to double up Chase Lyles.
“There were a lot of big plays out there tonight, which is the reason we were able to win the game,” Fryman said. “The young kids are starting to get adjusted to playing professional baseball, getting used to the travel and playing everyday.
“The more they play the better they’ll get,” he added.