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1st-night Valley fans: There’s no place like home for pro baseball
SEE ALSO: Opening night(mare).
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A crowd of Mahoning Valley Scrappers’ fans streams through the gates of Eastwood Field in Niles for the team’s home opener against the Auburn Doubledays of Auburn, N.Y.
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Scrappers pitcher J.D. Goryl delivers a pitch during the fourth inning of Monday’s game against Auburn at Eastwood Field.
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Before the start of Monday’s home-opener game at Eastwood Field in Niles, Mahoning Valley Scrappers player Takafumi Nakamura, left, signs a baseball ball for fans Joe Homa, 11, center, and Tyler Longwell, 13, both of Warren. The Scrappers opened their 11th season as a Minor League affi liate of the Cleveland Indians.
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Fans watch the Mahoning Valley Scrappers’ home opener against Auburn on Monday night at Eastwood Field.
By JON MOFFETT
jmoffett@vindy.com
NILES
Baseball fans agree on one thing when it comes to the Scrappers: It’s good to be home.
Mahoning Valley opened its 2010 season at Eastwood Field with 5,099 fans. And after a successful season in which the Scrappers dabbled in the postseason, the fans were ready for the sequel.
Four of those fans made the trek from Hermitage, Pa., to watch the Scrappers open at home. Cheryl Covad and her family had been waiting since last season to cheer on their favorite area team.
“We like to watch the Scrappers because you can sit down very close to the field, and they hustle a lot more than the Indians or Pirates do,” she said. “We’re very excited.”
Joining Covad, 58, were her son, Sean, and grandchildren Evan and Abby.
The younger Covads, age 7 and 5, respectively, said they both like to play baseball in the backyard.
Cheryl said the family attends about a half-dozen games each season. She said the environment is better suited for the kids.
“This is good for the little ones because they can get better in tune with the game,” she said. “And the games and events they have between innings and the promotions and things like that are fun.”
Meanwhile, across the ballpark at the ice cream stand was Rachel Gilronan of Warren. She, however, was too busy enjoying her souvenir Scrappers helmet full of Dippin’ Dots ice cream. The treat was an appetizer to her favorite ballpark food: nachos.
Scrappers notebook | From Eastwood Field
Home sweet home: The Mahoning Valley Scrappers opened their home season in front of 5,099 fans. Though the number is somewhat short of the record 7,726 set in 1999, manager Travis Fryman said its always nice to play in front of such an energetic group. “It’s always tremendous,” he said. “In the three years I’ve been here, this has been a nice place to play. We’ve always had nice fan support.” He said the confines of Eastwood Fields are “a great place for your first introduction into professional baseball.”
Hit the showers: Prior to the first pitch being thrown, the sprinkler system in front of the visitors’ dugout mysteriously turned on and soaked a few of the Auburn Doubledays. The drizzle took several minutes to corral, and only happened on the opposition’s side of the field. Scrappers personnel laughed at the idea of sabotage and insisted the problem was coincidental.
How much wood: Fryman didn’t balk when asked if using a wooden bat, as opposed to aluminum, added to his team’s offensive funk. “That process will be taking place all summer,” he said. “It’s very difficult to learn.” He added that the bat isn’t as much to blame as the approach and the swing. “What we call a swing plane tends to be more uphill which you can get away with when you use an aluminum bat,” he said. “They’ll spend most of the summer learning how to swing a wood bat and learning how to improve their swing plane.” One of his players, Chase Burnette, said the transition is one that takes some getting used to. “There is a lot smaller of a sweet spot on a wood bat ... So there is a little bit of adjusting to it,” Burnette said. “But you just have to be more focused and square the ball up more.”
Jon Moffett