Scrappers Get back in the Win Column

Following the off-day Thursday and being on the wrong end of a three-game sweep to Frederick, The Mahoning Valley Scrappers were looking to get back in the win column against The Williamsport Crosscutters on Friday night. The Crosscutters also came into Friday struggling, sporting just a 4-8 record through their first 12 games of The MLB Draft League season. The second time these two ball clubs met this season with the first time occurring earlier in the month at Williamsport where Mahoning Valley won the series two games to one with on of the victories coming via the tiebreaker. With both teams needing a win and playing a desperate brand of baseball, it made for all the intrigue amongst The Mahoning Valley Mob that was in attendance at Eastwood Field.

Tony Rossi was the starting pitcher for The Scrappers while Tyler Kennedy got the call to start on the mound for The Crosscutters. Rossi dealt with some trouble in the top of the first inning before eventually getting out of the jam with back-to-back strikeouts, stranding runners at first and second to end the top half of the inning with no damage done. In the bottom half of the first, Mahoning Valley would strike first! After the first two went down seamlessly in the inning, Braeden O’Shaughnessy lined a two-out single to right to keep the inning alive. O'Shaughnessy would steal second before the next batter, Jack Moss, walked to set first and second up for The Scrappers. Mason Sykes would deliver the two-out clutch hit to plate O’Shaughnessy and get Mahoning Valley on the board first, 1-0.

Both pitchers would work clean the next two innings including a 1-2-3 inning for both Rossi and Kennedy in the third inning. However, the fourth saw pitching changes for both sides as well. After walking the first batter in the top of the fourth, Rossi was pulled from The Scrappers over potential medical concerns and was then replaced with Kenji Pallares. After Jack Oberdorf walked, he was then caught stealing before Pallares walked two more in the inning before recording a big strikeout to, once again, strand runners at first and second. Mason Sykes led off the bottom of the fourth inning with a walk which he used to then steal second base before ending up on third, courtesy of a passed ball by Crosscutter catcher Nate LaRue. Brandon Hylton would then work a walk before NicK Schwartz doubled the Mahoning Valley lead on a sacrifice-fly to right field. Tyler Kennedy would walk the bases loaded before getting the hook in favor of Nate Wohlgemuth in the bottom of the fourth. Getting a key strikeout of Prince DeBoskie before forcing the tough bat of Colton Coates to ground out with no additional runs scored as Wohlgemuth delivered in a big way by limiting the runs in the frame!

After a quick inning for both sides offensively in the fifth, Williamsport would get on the scoreboard in the sixth. Edwin Toribio would lead off the inning with a single, Pallares would then record a strikeout and a flyout of the next two batters before Nate LaRue delivered an RBI-single that scored Toribio all the way from first who broke for second on a great jump prior to the pitch being thrown. With The Crosscutters cutting the lead in half, Scrappers once again held a slim one run advantage in the ballgame 2-1. The run scored against Mahoning Valley in the top half of the frame woke up the offense in the bottom of the inning.

Derek Hassan came on to pitch in the sixth while working on a newer pitch in his repertoire, the knuckleball. Those that know anything about knuckleballers know that when the pitch is on, it's really on! However, when it’s off, it can be a long day at the office for an arm. Most knuckleballers would even tell you that half the time, they do not even have an idea exactly where the pitch will end up. With the latter being the case, Hassan allowed the first five batters to reach while allowing two runs in the inning and leaving the bases loaded with no outs before being replaced. With Mahoning Valley up 4-1, the new arm of Keller Eberly took over for Williamsport and did what he could, providing the situation was as tough as it was. Allowing a bases-loaded single to Colton Coates that scored two more before Prince DeBoskie came home on a wild pitch, in a blink of an eye, it was 7-1 Scrappers! Eberly would get the next two outs to mercifully end the sixth for The Crosscutters.

The Scrappers shut things down the rest of the way, with the combined pitching efforts of Charez Butcher, Derek Bolander and, Draft League Player of The Week, Joe Glassey all pitched a scoreless inning in the seventh, eighth and ninth to mark this one in the win column for Mahoning Valley (6-7) over Williamsport (4-9) by a final score of 7-1! Both teams are back in action on Saturday night at Eastwood Field where it will be Steven Kwan bobblehead night in the ballpark! Of course, if you cannot make it out to Niles, we got you covered! Catch all Mahoning Valley Scrappers home games on YSN! (ysnlive.com/team/scrappers)