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Red-hot Scrappers win fifth straight
By Steve Ruman
NILES
For the first month of the season, the Mahoning Valley Scrappers played in a zombie-like state as they struggled through a 7-21 start. The early miseries included a franchise-worst 12-game losing streak.
On Thursday, it was the Scrappers’ workers and fans who played the role of animated corpses. Zombie Night at Eastwood Field brought out all sorts of characters, many of whom took part in a pregame zombie crawl.
As for the Scrappers?
Well, they continue their crawl out of the grave and ascension as the hottest team in the New York-Penn League.
The Scrappers defeated State College, 3-1, Thursday night in front of a lively crowd of 4,839.
The three-game sweep of the Spikes is the Scrappers’ first series sweep of the year, and it shines the spotlight on an impressive turnaround.
Winners of five straight, the Scrappers (15-23) own the longest active winning streak in the NY-PL. They have won eight of their last 10.
The Scrappers have surrendered just 21 runs in their last 10 games. The Spikes entered the week as the league’s top hitting team, but they scored a mere two runs in the three games against Scrappers pitching..
By comparison, less than two weeks ago the Scrappers were swept in State College. In those three games, Scrappers pitchers surrendered 28 runs.
“In those games at State College, we fell behind and we walked some guys, and that got us in trouble,” said Scrappers pitching coach Scott Erickson. “This series, we attacked the zone and got ahead early, and that was the difference.
“We told these guys that good pitching always shuts down good hitting. We knew we had the guys who can win games. It was just a matter of putting things together.
The Scrappers used a trio of hurlers to shut down the Spikes on Thursday. Cole Sulser started, and surrendered just one hit in three innings of work. Ben Heller (1-2) worked the middle three innings, scattering four hits. Breily Puerta worked the final three innings, giving up a run on just two hits. He struck out five.
“Our entire pitching staff has had a good state of mind all year long,” Erickson said. “Other than that series in State College, they’ve been pretty solid. Even when we were losing, the games were low scoring, so they’ve remained positive.”
The Scrappers scored the game’s first run in the second inning on a Josh McAdams sacrifice fly which plated James Roberts.
An inning later, the Scrappers extended their lead to 3-0 when Juan Herrera belted a two-run homer into the bullpen in right field.
The Spikes’ lone run came in the seventh. David Washington led off with a ground-rule double, then scored on a Luiz Perez base hit.
“We’ve always maintained a positive mindset, even when things weren’t going our way,” McAdams said. “Our coaches kept emphasizing the fact that we can’t be too down when things aren’t going our way, and we can’t be too up when we’re winning.
“Baseball is a difficult game. It can humble you. The key is to keep composed and to stay level-headed throughout the season.”
McAdams said the Scrappers’ strong pitching has boosted the confidence of a once-struggling offense.
“With the guys we put on the mound, we know we’re going to be in every game,” McAdams said. “We don’t have to go up there and feel like we have to swing at the fences every at-bat. We don’t feel pressured to put together big innings. We just take things one at-bat at a time.”
McAdams said the recent team success has brought new life to the clubhouse.
“We’ve always remained positive and focused, but yeah, winning is fun, and it puts everyone in a better mood,” McAdams said.
The Scrappers continue their homestand tonight when they begin a two-game series against Batavia.