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Scrapper hitters come up short
Despite loss, Scrappers still in division title race
By Steve Ruman
NILES
As the hitting coach of the Mahoning Valley Scrappers, Pete Lauritson has his work cut out for him.
The current Scrappers roster includes 13 players who are fresh out of college, picked up by the Cleveland Indians in the recent June draft. Four other players are just 13 months removed from high school.
Yet despite the lack of professional experience — and despite the fact that there are no Scrappers players among the New York-Penn League leaders in any offensive category — the Scrappers as a team lead the NY-PL in hitting.
Unfortunately, the Scrappers didn’t exactly knock the cover off the ball on Saturday, and the result was a Williamsport 5-4 win in front of 5,009 fans at Eastwood Field.
The Crosscutters avoided a sweep with the victory.
Despite the loss, the Scrappers (23-15) remain just one-half game behind West Virginia in the Pinkney Division standings.
The game featured nine errors — five by Williamsport.
“As a group, these guys have done a wonderful job overall of adjusting to professional ball,” Lauritson said. “Whether they are coming out of high school or college, this is a big jump.
“A year or two ago, these guys were playing once or twice a week. They had three or four days in between games to figure things out, to fix things and make adjustments. Now, it’s a whole different situation.”
Mahoning Valley scored the first two runs of the game with a two-run third inning. They were aided by a pair of Williamsport errors, along with a RBI base hit off the bat of Hosea Nelson.
The Crosscutters answered with a four-run third. The big blow of the inning was a two-run homer off the bat of Jhailyn Ortiz.
Scrappers leadoff hitter Samad Taylor had an RBI base hit in the fourth. In the ninth, Taylor plated Nelson with a sacrifice fly, but Williamsport closer Luis Ramirez retired the final two batters of the game to earn his fifth save of the season.
Taylor collected six hits and seven RBI in his last two games.
Lauritson noted that Taylor and his teammates “are extremely eager to learn,” which has made his job a bit easier.
“These guys all have the ability, that’s why they are here,” Lauritson said. “But they also all have to adjust to this level of the game. It’s a grind. It’s a process. But the nice thing is that this young group is eager and willing to learn. If you give them the right information, they just eat it up. They absorb it all.”
Lauritson noted that the current group of Scrappers are also willing to put in the overtime in order to improve their game.
“They realize this is a job. This is a profession. If they need to be here at 11 a.m. to put in the extra work, they are here. They want to move up,” Lauritson said.
The Scrappers begin a three-game home series against Batavia today beginning at 4:05.