Monday, July 29, 2013
By Steve Ruman
NILES
The Mahoning Valley Scrappers have had pretty much everything thrown their way during the first half of the season.
Five rainouts, nine rain delays and four doubleheaders have played havoc with the Scrappers’ schedule. In just five weeks, they’ve already made four road trips to six different cities. They’ve played in front of more than 6,000 fans in New York City, and in front of about 60 fans in Jamestown.
On the field, the Scrappers had to endure a franchise-high 12-game losing streak, which was followed by a 10-game stretch in which they were the hottest team in the New York-Penn League. While getting swept in three games in State College, they surrendered 28 runs. Two weeks later, they gave up just two runs while sweeping the Spikes at home.
They’ve won in walk-off fashion in a game which featured four hit batsmen on four consecutive pitches. More recently, they lost a game when walks loaded the bases, then pushed the winning run across the plate.
On Sunday, the Scrappers added another new chapter to the 2013 season with a come-from-behind, 7-6, walk-off win over Williamsport.
The victory marked the biggest comeback of the season for the Scrappers (16-24), who trailed 6-1 entering the bottom of the eighth.
The Scrappers rallied to score four in the eighth. Then with two outs in the bottom of the ninth inning and down 6-5, Scrappers first baseman Nellie Rodriguez hit a double into the gap in left-center, scoring Joel Mejia and Claudio Bautista.
Both base runners reached on errors — two of five miscues committed by the Crosscutters.
“Through everything this year, we haven’t quit,” Rodriguez said. “We have always been grinding out games, playing until the last out. We don’t always come out on top, but we keep giving ourselves the opportunity to be there in the end.”
The Scrappers faced a quick 3-0 deficit thanks to a second-inning home run by Logan Pierce. The Williamsport second baseman blasted a three-run shot off Scrappers starter Rob Whitenack.
The Crosscutters extended their lead to 4-0 in the fourth. Dylan Cozens led off with a double down the right-field line. Two batters later, he scored on a wild pitch.
The Scrappers scored their first run of the game in the sixth on a Juan Herrera groundout which plated Cody Ferrell. Williamsport seemed to put the game out of reach in the seventh when Andrew Knapp’s two-run double extended the lead to 6-1
However, the Scrappers scored four runs in the eighth to pull to within one run. James Roberts and Josh McAdams each had an RBI hit in the frame, while the Scrappers scored a pair of runs on throwing errors.
Mejia led off the bottom of the ninth by reaching on a throwing error by Williamsport reliever Keivi Rojas. A Ferrell bunt moved Mejia to second, and Mejia advanced to third when Bautista reached on an error.
Herrera failed to score Mejia when he lined out to center. That set the stage for Rodriguez, who smacked a Chris Nichols 3-2 pitch that increased his team-high RBI total to 26.
“(Nichols) threw me five straight sliders, so I was looking for the same pitch,” Rodriguez said. “I missed the first two, but I got my timing down a bit on those strikes.”
In the eighth, Rodriguez flew out to shallow left field with the bases loaded to record the first out of the inning.
“I was hoping to get a second chance, I didn’t really know it would be in walk-off fashion,” Rodriguez said.
The Scrappers and Crosscutters conclude their brief two-game series at 7:05 tonight.