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Hankins homers in MV loss
By Joe Scalzo
niles
Scrappers infielder Todd Hankins hails from Ovideo, Fla., a town just outside of Orlando that features the type of summer weather that makes Ohio’s recent heat wave seem refreshing.
“This is basically what it’s like every day in the summer in Florida, if not worse,” he said. “When I got up here, I kind of got used to the cooler weather — maybe not cooler, but at least less humidity — so yesterday and today, it kind of made me feel like I was back home.”
Whether it was the weather, or just his continued development, Hankins looked at home at the plate on Wednesday, going 2 for 4 with his first professional home run in Mahoning Valley’s 10-inning, 5-4 loss to the Spikes at Eastwood Field.
“It’s always nice to get a hit early in the game; that takes a lot of pressure off you,” said Hankins, who singled in his first at-bat and improved his batting average to .229. “The next at-bat I came up and I was just looking for a fastball to hit. I got it and put a swing on it.
“It felt pretty good.”
Did his teammates call him muscles when he got back to the dugout?
“No,” he said, chuckling. “They just congratulated me.”
Hankins, 20, was a 15th-round draft pick by the Indians last month out of Seminole State College. Like a lot of hitters in the New York-Penn League, he’s learning to adjust to the superior pitching of pro baseball.
“The quality of play up here is definitely a huge step up,” he said. “In college, most of the guys playing up here were either the best kid or one of the best kids on their team and now it’s hard to stand out because everybody’s that kid.
“It’s definitely been an adjustment for me.”
Nights like Wednesday make that adjustment easier, he said.
“You can’t get down on yourself if you have a bad night because everybody knows there is a transition you have to go through,” he said. “Everybody goes through it but, yeah, nights like this definitely build your confidence up and help you get through the hard days.”
After falling behind 4-1 after six innings, the Scrappers pulled within two on Hankins’ homer in the seventh inning, then added two more in the bottom of the ninth to tie it.
Jerrud Sabourin led off the ninth with a walk and, one out later, moved to second on Cody Elliott’s single. Tony Wolters then doubled to left to scored Sabourin and move Elliott to third.
Jake Lowery followed with a towering fly to deep center, but the ball was tracked down by center fielder Taylor Lewis. Elliott scored and Wolters moved to third, then nearly scored when a Spikes infielder couldn’t field the ball cleanly. (Wolters appeared to run into manager David Wallace, who was coaching third base.) Mahoning Valley’s best hitter, Jordan Smith, then walked and John Barr grounded out to end the threat.
State College immediately answered in the top of the 10th when Carlos Mesa hit a bomb over the left field wall.
Alex Lavisky had two hits, including his third home run of the season, and Wolters doubled twice for the Scrappers (18-15).
Mahoning Valley threatened in the bottom of the 10th when Lavisky led off with a single and moved to second on Hankins’ bunt. But Sabourin lined out and Aaron Siliga flied out to end the game.