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Toregas makes winning return to Eastwood Field
By Steve Ruman
NILES
For Wyatt Toregas, a return to Eastwood Field resulted in both a joyous stroll down memory lane and a victory.
A former Mahoning Valley Scrappers catcher, Toregas is now the manager of the West Virginia Black Bears. On Friday, the Black Bears downed the Scrappers 1-0 in front of 3,091 fans at Eastwood Field.
The lone run of the game was scored in the sixth inning off of Scrappers reliever Cortland Cox, who was greeted with back-to-back singles when he entered the game. Cox recovered briefly, recording a strikeout, but then issued back-to-back walks. The second walk to Mitchell Tolman plated Kevin Kramer.
Scrappers starter Kieran Lovegrove entered the game with a 1-6 record and a 6.00 ERA, but the righty was on the mark against the Black Bears. Lovegrove worked five scoreless innings, scattering four hits while recording four strikeouts.
However, Black Bears starter Seth McGarry (2-2) was equally effective, not allowing a run over five innings while giving up just two hits.
Julio Eusebio worked a scoreless ninth to earn his fourth save of the season. Eusebio gave up a leadoff single to Mark Mathias, who then advanced to second on a balk. However, the next three Scrappers batters struck out to end the game.
Toregas was a 24th round draft pick of the Cleveland Indians in 2004. That summer, he appeared in 59 games for the Scrappers, hitting seven home runs while posting a .294 batting average. Toregas worked his way up the minor league ladder, then in 2009 he appeared in 19 games with the Indians.
“Seriously, walking in here today brought back a flood of great memories,” Toregas said. “It was like a homecoming. I feel very comfortable here; this is where I played my first official pro game.”
“I drove into the parking lot today, and I was like, ‘this seems normal to me.’ The stadium looks exactly like it did when I left, so it’s definitely a home feeling.”
Toregas was part of the 2004 Scrappers team that won the New York-Penn League championship under manager Mike Sarbaugh.
“Obviously the biggest memory I have of that year was of us celebrating in Tri-City when we won it all,” Toregas said. “But beyond that, I just remember that summer as being very special. The feeling I had every night coming to this ball park was special, because the fans were always so supportive.”
“Fans here were the best. The largest and most energetic fans we played in front of that year were always here in Niles.”
As Toregas progressed through the minors, so did Sarbaugh. The player/manager relationship reunited in both Lake County and Columbus.
“It was kind of strange how it played out; he was my manager at every level but the majors,” Toregas said. “I learned so much from Mike. So much about being a player, and now looking back he did a lot to prepare me to be a manager.”
Toregas says that his rookie year as a manager is everything he hoped it would be and more.
“It’s a very rewarding job to see these guys progress and to know you’re a part of it,” Toregas said.