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Scrappers shut out
Mahoning Valley falls to 13-21 at Eastwood Field
By Steve Ruman
NILES
Throughout the summer, New York-Penn League baseball managers have insisted that winning at the Class A short season level takes a back seat to player development.
State College Spikes manager Johnny Rodriguez offers a different take on the matter.
“Development and winning go hand in hand,” Rodriguez said Monday after the Spikes defeated the Mahoning Valley Scrappers, 3-0, at Eastwood Field before 2,405 fans. “Developing strong fundamentals can become habit-forming; well, so can winning and losing.
“Therefore, it’s important to try and expose young players to a winning environment,” Rodriguez said. “How a player responds in crucial games can tell a lot, so you want to put players in some must-win situations.”
With seven games left on their schedule, the Spikes (36-33) are in a first-place tie for the wild-card spot in the NYPL playoff hunt.
On Sunday, State College gave up 10 first-inning runs in a 12-5 loss to the Scrappers. In the second game, the Spikes rallied in their final at-bat for a victory.
On Monday, the Spikes didn’t need to rally. They scored a pair of second-inning runs off Scrappers starter Kieran Lovegrove on a walk and a pair of singles.
Lovegrove (1-7, 5.93 ERA) walked the leadoff hitter in the fifth. A wild pitch, a groundout and a sacrifice fly gave the Spikes a 3-0 lead.
Lovegrove suffered his team-high seventh loss of the season despite the fact he surrendered just two hits in his five innings of work.
The Spikes’ offense was limited to just three hits. They were retired in order in six of the nine innings.
However, the Scrappers, who are 13-21 at home, weren’t able to cross the plate against Spikes starter Jorge Ronriguez (6.2 innings, 5 hits, 5 strikeouts) and reliever Steven De La Cruz (2.1 innings, 1 hit, 5 strikeouts).
“To see us put that bad inning [on Sunday] behind us, then come back and rally the way we did in game two, that showed me a lot,” Rodriguez said. “Our guys know they are playing for something, they’re playing like a team with a collective goal.”
Ronriguez said that his team’s ability to remain in the postseason hunt has been especially rewarding given the fact that the Spikes roster has experienced constant changes throughout the past two months. Many of the top draft picks which began the season in State College have since moved up to the Class A level or higher.
“We have a lost a lot of players to promotion over the course of the summer, and each time we did someone else stepped up to keep us near the top of the standings,” Rodriguez said. “That’s been one of the most rewarding aspects of coaching this team.”
Rodriguez acknowledged that as the season nears its end and as the Spikes continue to battle for a playoff spot, his managerial decisions become even more directed toward winning games.
“There are times early in the year where we leave pitchers in for development sake, or we might not pinch-hit, things like that, in situations that would otherwise call for a move,” Rodriguez said. “This last week, our decisions are geared more toward making that push for the playoffs.”
“Again, placing these guys in big-game situations and seeing how they perform, that’s all a part of the overall progression of a ballplayer.”