Just an hour into their game against the Auburn Doubledays, the Mahoning Valley Scrappers had to be scratching their heads and wondering who poisoned their food before the game.  After three innings, the scoreboard pretty much told the story (above).  The Scrappers played better after the first three disastrous innings but never got enough traction to get back into the game, ultimately losing, 10-1.

Auburn finished the game with ten hits and the Scrappers with seven errors.  Tony Wolters had three of the errors and could not make the plays he has made all year at short.  The fans sarcastically cheered in the seventh inning when Wolters made a routine play.  Not to worry Indians and Scrappers fans, he is the real deal, he just had one of those nights.

Starter Danny Jimenez struggled with his control at times and when he was able to throw strikes, the Doubledays either found holes or were given gift base runners.  Jimenez is a good pitcher and will have better starts.  Not to worry Indians and Scrappers fans, he is the real deal, he just had one of those nights.

A heckler sitting right in front of the press box made the comment that if he wanted to see this style of baseball he would go home and watch little league.  Haha… I think he was on the Muppet Show in the balcony twenty years ago and someone gave him a free ticket to the Scrappers game.  The moral of the paragraph is that one night and one loss will not cripple this team.  They will play harder tomorrow.  Not to worry Indians and Scrappers fans, they are the real deal,they just had one of those nights.

David Wallace is too good of a manager and his support staff of Greg Hibbard and Tony Mansolino have been around long enough to convince a bunch of young guys that they are way better than they played.  Wallace has preached to these guys all year not to look back and to develop not regress.  He has the composure of someone who has been managing for decades, yet he is a rookie.  Not to worry Indians and Scrappers fans, they are the real deal,they just had one of those nights.

Wallace (above), talked about his team’s uncharacteristic performance.  “They want to put this one behind themselves and forget about it pretty quick.  It really was one of those nights. We got off to a bad start and it just snowballed on us.  One thing I didn’t like was that if we are going to make mistakes, I want them to be aggressive mistakes.  I think some of the mistakes we saw tonight were passive and that is what bothers me. There wasn’t much positive to take from this one.  I think they were embarrassed out there tonight and they don’t need me to tell them about it.”

On the bright side, Scrappers pitchers recorded 12 strikeouts. RP Nate Striz had four strikeouts in relief, and Grant Sides struck out the side in the ninth.

These two teams meet again tomorrow night at Eastwood Field.  Expect a much different result.

It started out as a pitchers duel between the Mahoning Valley Scrappers and the Staten Island Yankees on Buck Night.  The fans, all 4,807 of them,  were treated to a great defensive game (0 errors) and a pitching clinic by both teams.  Cody Elliott (above) hit his first big-league home run to propel the Scrappers to a hard-fought 4-0 win over the Yankees on Betty White Night.

Scrappers starting pitcher, Will Roberts (below), threw 65 pitches covering six scoreless innings to pick up the win for the Scrappers.  Roberts had good stuff and only allowed one hit , struck out four, and didn’t walk anyone.  Not to be outdone, the Yankees Bryan Mitchell gave up only one hit through five, a single to red-hot Tony Wolters.

Roberts reflected on his first win.  “They [Staten Island] have some pretty big guys in their lineup.  I knew coming in that I would have to throw quality strikes and felt like I was able to do that today.  I felt awful warming up in the bullpen and I could not throw an off-speed pitch for a strike.  Once I got my slider working, and was able to throw some quality curveballs, I was able to keep them off-balance, they were pretty aggressive.”

After walking Evan Frazar and surrendering a double down the first base line to John Barr, the Yankees pitching coach, Danny Borrell, made a trip to the mound, but opted to leave Mitchell in.  Hindsight was 20/20, and Allen hit a scorcher to left-center that cleared the advertising banners to give the Scrappers a 3-0 lead.

Allen’s first homer was memorable.  “I ran hard because if it drops, I need to be on second or third.  It felt great, anytime you can do something to help the team win, it always feels good.  As my first home run, that makes it even better.”

The Scrappers tacked on another run in the sixth when Wolters walked after fighting back from an 0-2 count.  He advanced to second on a wild pitch and came around to score on a Jake Lowery double to the alley in left-centerfield.  Lowery’s double made it 4-0.

Cody Allen took the ball to start the seventh inning on the hill for Mahoning Valley. After allowing back-to-back singles to start the seventh, Allen was able to strike out the next two batters and record a pop-fly to escape harm.

The Scrappers are only the second team all year to defeat Staten Island in back-to-back games.  The other streak of note was Jordan Smith‘s 18 consecutive home games with at least one hit.  Smith batted in the bottom of the eighth with two outs, but walked, which unfortunately ends the roll.

Smith reflected on his streak.  “It’s not about me, it’s about the team.  It is always fun to have a streak like that, but we won a big game and that is more important.  It’s always good to win.”

Enosil Tejeda pitched the ninth inning to earn the save for Mahoning Valley.

The Scrappers, improving to 28-19 with the win, proved they are championship material against the Yankees, who dipped to 33-13.  Come September, don’t be surprised to see these two teams lock up for a championship meeting.

David Wallace was praiseworthy of both Roberts and Allen.  “What Roberts did was impressive tonight.  He was throwing his fastball both in and out and was able to throw off-speed pitches for strikes as well.  When he has that mix going he is going to be tough to hit, I don’t care what level he is at.  Cody [Elliott] has been giving us good at-bats no matter where we are putting him in the lineup.  His two-strike approach has been very impressive.  He has really looked comfortable in the box.”

Wallace also offered his opinion on Betty White Night. “I don’t know much about Betty White and I was wondering before the game what the obsession is with her lately.  I have seen her on Saturday Night Live and she has a huge following, so good for her.  “

When Kelly Pavlik decided to back out of a fight with Darryl Cunningham, he left many people scratching their heads.  Pavlik was supposedly upset with being offered a 60-40 split to fight Lucian Bute that didn’t equal 60-40. Bute was set to make $6 million to Pavlik’s $1.3 million.  Do the math and you will find that if Bute were to make his end, Pavlik would have to make $4 million to call it a 60-40 split.  Pavlik said he would not “fight for peanuts” against a southpaw like Bute feeling he was being shortchanged by Top Rank.

Top Rank put up a statement saying they were upset with his decision.  One voice that had not been heard yet was that of Jack Loew, Pavlik’s longtime trainer.  Loew is no one trick pony, he has Dannie Williams fighting on ESPN Friday Night Fights on Friday, August 12.  I was able to talk with Loew about the table of events and wasn’t surprised with his answers.

When asked how he found out, Loew said, “Kelly called me and said he was not fighting Cunningham.  I tried to talk him out of it, but he  has his mind set on fighting in high-dollar fights, feeling he has paid his dues. “

Asked if this was it and Pavlik was done fighting, Loew commented, “I don’t think he is done.  I think he will have a bigger problem trying to get a big money fight because he backed out of this one. The longer he sits and waits for a big fight, the worse his chances will be of landing one.  He has never expressed a desire to quit or take time off, I’m not sure where we go from here.“

“I’m sure there is no remorse”, commented Loew about Pavlik’s frame of mind.

I am sure a part of Pavlik should feel slighted.  Top Rank offered the Bute fight to Mikkel Kessler for much more money.  Was it reason to back out of a Cunningham fight that was supposed to be proof that the timing was back and the pop was in his punches?  Absolutely not.  This move could spell career suicide for one of Youngstown’s most famous athletes.

The Mahoning Valley Scrappers were firing on all cylinders against the team with the best record at their level.  The Scrappers dominated Staten Island in every possible way en route to a 13-5 win.  The Scrappers pounded out 13 hits as Tony Wolters (above) went 5-6 and Todd Hankins and Jerrud Sabourin each collected a pair of doubles in the barrage.  Sabourin knocked in four.

“We went out and got hits in key situations tonight”, remarked Wolters after the game.  “They are a good team but we were a little better tonight.  It feels awesome to be in first place, we are excited about it.”

The Scrappers scored in the first when Bryson Myles reached via error, and later scored on an error. They added a run in the second when Hankins doubled and scored on a Sabourin sac fly in the second.  In the third the Scrappers plated four with Myles, Wolters, Jake Lowery, and Smith all scoring.

The floodgates opened in the bottom of the fourth.  Myles reached on an error, Wolters singled, and Lowery walked.  Jordan Smith then singled to extend his home hitting streak to 18 games.  Cody Elliott then hit a sac fly, Alex Lavisky walked, and then Hankins hit an RBI double, followed by Sabourin hitting a two-run double.

Joseph Colon (above) threw 81 pitches in four innings of work for the Scrappers. Colon was only able to complete four innings but fought his way out of mostly every obstacle.  He showed a lot of heart and got some run support departing with an 11-1 lead.  Colon’s only mistake was a third-inning home run to Staten Island’s Ben Gamel. The beneficiary of Colon’s early exit was Will Krasne, in line to get a gift win.  Krasne struggled, walking five in two-and-a-third innings, but ultimately got the job done to pick up the win.

The game got delayed 15 minutes due to inclement weather.  The high scoring didn’t help the pace much.  It was 9:35 p.m. after the sixth inning and the crowd of 2,345 was filing out with the outcome presumably decided.

Having interviewed Wolters before the game, I learned he was very superstitious. Claiming he changes everything when he has a subpar game –  from his wristbands to his sliding pants to the time he eats, I kidded that if he went 5-5 that I would not be able to interview him every night.  He just laughed and shrugged his shoulders.

“Same everything tomorrow, nothing will change”, said a joyous Wolters after his five hit gem.

David Wallace praised the effort of Wolters and Sabourin.  “Special night for Wolters. The way I look at it, it is the fruit of a lot of hard work.  When he stays within himself, he is a great player.  Jerrud [Sabourin] has really stepped up these last couple of weeks.  He has been swinging a good bat all year without much reward, now he seems to just be hitting over their heads.  If he keeps hitting like this, he will not be near the bottom of the order very long.”

Wrestling fans will want to mark August 28 in their planners.  The Mahoning Valley Scrappers have announced that Jimmy “Mouth of The South” Hart has been added to Baseball Brawl 2 following the ball game.  Mick Foley and Al Snow had already been signed to participate in the event, and Hart has recently been added.

All-in-all, there are seven matches scheduled for the card, which will feature mostly independent talent.

Hart was instrumental in the wrestling popularity craze of the 80’s.  He was best known for his screaming through a megaphone and was a great “heel” manager.

Tickets for the game are available at the Mahoning Scrappers Box Office and the game ticket will include the wrestling card, no additional fees.

Staten Island entered Tuesday’s contest against Mahoning Valley with the best record in the McNamara Division.  Conversely, the Scrappers had the best record in the Pinckney Division.  Something had to give as the two best teams faced off in game one of a three-game set.  With a nasty storm brewing, the Yankees took control of a tie game in the eighth inning and got by Mahoning Valley, 7-4.

The Yankees wasted little time scoring the first run of the game, as leadoff hitter Mason Williams homered off of Scrappers starter, Mason Radeke (below).  The next batter, Cito Culver, tripled into the right field corner.  Culver trotted home on a passed ball to increase the Yankee lead to 2-0.

The Scrappers cut the margin in half in the bottom of the first inning.  Tony Wolters scored on a Jordan Smith single.  Smith extended his streak of getting a hit at every home game with the knock.  Smith entered the game leading the league with a .352 batting average.  The Scrappers took a 3-2 lead in the third inning when Wolters and Jake Lowery scored as a result of a Cody Elliott clean single.

The Yankees tied the game in the top of the fourth and took a lead of 4-3 in the fifth.  The Scrappers tied the game back up in the bottom of the fifth.  Alex Lavisky doubled and scored when Todd Hankins hit what looked like a routine fly that was dropped by the center fielder.  Lavisky, hustling with two outs, scored easily from second on the gift.

At that point, pitching and defense kicked in for both teams.  Nate Striz threw a couple of scoreless innings before Staten Island got to him in the eighth inning.  A sacrifice fly by Ben Gamel put the Yankees ahead 5-4.  Striz then threw to first to keep the baserunner, Culver, honest, but Lowery mishandled the throw allowing the Yankees shortstop a path all the way to third base.  Grant Sides relieved Striz with two out in the eighth.  Angelo Gumbs greeted Sides with a triple on a 1-0 count to deep center for an RBI and a 6-4 Staten Island lead.

Mason Williams was tough on Scrappers pitchers all night.  The Yankees center fielder ended the game 3-5 with a HR and 2 RBI.

Striz took the loss for Mahoning Valley (26-19), and Fred Lewis picked up the win for Staten Island (33-11).

After the game, Scrappers Manager, David Wallace, talked about playing the team with the best record.  “It does make a difference when they [Staten Island] have some second and third year players.  However, we just focus on getting better as individuals and as a team without worrying about who is on their team.  They definitely made it happen, you can’t give them extra opportunities and we did tonight.  They gave us some opportunities too, and we were unable to take advantage of them.”

On Glee night, modeled after the hit TV show, which incidentally is Wallace’s favorite program, I had to ask if he was paying more attention to the between-innings themed entertainment than he usually would.  “I heard and saw some stuff on the scoreboard, but have to admit I was pretty disappointed in some of the singing that I heard tonight.  It looked like they were having a really good time with it.”

Without much notice, Kelly Pavlik pulled the plug on his August 6 fight against Darryl Cunningham. Nobody is sure exactly why Pavlik backed out.  Pavlik had a smaller hurdle to clear in Cunningham en route to a million dollar payday against Lucian Bute that was scheduled to take place in November if Pavlik won the fight.

“Top Rank is very disappointed at Kelly’s sudden decision to discontinue the rebuilding of his boxing career,” said Todd duBoef, president of Top Rank, Pavlik’s promoter. “Kelly’s team specifically outlined a strategy for Kelly to return to the ring in an effective fashion. Kelly’s team gave us their objectives and we set them on a course, which began last May with Kelly’s fight against Alfonso Lopez and was to continue on Saturday against Darryl Cunningham. It seems Kelly has derailed this plan.”

Pavlik countered by saying he would not “fight for peanuts”, suggesting maybe his take of the purse was insufficient.

This jeopardizes the chances of a fight against Bute.  Ticket pre-sales were reportedly very subpar at best for the event that was to take place in Pavlik’s hometown of Youngstown, Ohio.  Those associated with the card were alarmed by stagnant ticket sales up to two weeks ago.  The one positive in the whole deal for Pavlik is that his critics claimed he was only fighting for money and lost his desire to win.  That notion has been dispelled as Pavlik has put a seven-digit payday in danger with the potential Bute match.

Pavlik seemed to be having a stellar training camp, was happy with his sparring and timing and claims to have regained his mojo when I spoke with him less than a week ago.  He sprouted up at the Motley Crue concert Friday night and was not drinking.

Jack Loew could not be reached for comment, however WFMJ-21’s Dana Balash quoted Loew saying that Pavlik was unhappy with the proposed $1.3 Million offer to fight Bute.

As details become more available, I will pass them along.

Dominque Barnes has signed a free agent contract with the Detroit Lions.  The former Youngstown State Wide Receiver grew up in Michigan and will surely flourish in a system needing offense.  Barnes always told me he was going to get to the next level, no matter what, so congratulations Dominique Barnes, you made it!

In his career at Youngstown State, Barnes caught 168 passes for 2,062 yards and 15 touchdowns in 40 games played. His 168 receptions rank second in school history, his 15 touchdowns are fifth and his 2,062 yards are fifth as well.  Barnes set a school record with a reception in 34 consecutive games and became first player in school history to record more than 60 catches in consecutive years.

Ironically, Barnes could someday go against new divisional foe, and college teammate Brandian Ross, who is signed with Green Bay as a cornerback.  “Brandian and I are very close and I am really happy for him too.  He has been my biggest supporter.”

He also joins his friend Donald Jones in the NFL.  Jones, who signed with the Buffalo Bills last season, was someone that Barnes credited many times as being a great influence.  “Donald told me to be patient and good things will happen.”

Barnes has some studying to do as he already received a nice thick Lions playbook, but have faith, he is not only quick with his feet, he is also a quick learner.  Move over Barry Sanders, the little guy is loose in Motown!

“It’s a dream come true”, said Barnes via telephone.  “I have been living with this dream since I first started playing football.”

People on the inside recognize the name of Frank Duarte.  Duarte was an active professional boxer from 1973-1989.  He was once the number two ranked Bantamweight in the world.  Keep in mind, in those days there were only really two governing bodies controlling boxing – the WBA and WBC, so it was much harder to be highly ranked.  In his career, Duarte compiled an impressive record of 47-8-1.

After he left boxing, Duarte took on a new profession — cutting hair as a California barber.  “When I was cutting hair, I would really question myself as to why I was now a barber.  I missed boxing.  I started giving private boxing lessons and eventually quit the hair business.”

One of Duarte’s biggest fights was against Bernardo Pinango.  “It was a good fight”, recalled Duarte.  “I was 32 years old and it was my first title shot.  I knocked him down in the 12th round and he had three points taken away for low blows. Unfortunately, the three South American judges scoring the fight awarded Pinango with the decision.  I was never really hurt or dazed in that fight and it was one of the last 15 round fights to ever take place before boxing went to 12 round fights.”

In conversations with Ray “Boom Boom” Mancini, Duarte was told about a young fighter from Campbell, Ohio named Jake Giuriceo.  “Ray would talk to me about Jake and thought that I would be able to make Jake better because Ray saw how I taught. In February of this year, Ray sent Jake to me after I had watched some video of his fights.  In those videos, I saw a very aggressive fighter who stayed active and liked to throw a lot of punches.  I picked up immediately that he needed to move his head and his feet more.  The possibilities for Jake were endless that first training camp in preparation for his Angel Hernandez fight.  He was not a complete or polished fighter yet, but there was so much potential there.”

Giuriceo said he is not distracted when he is at home and that he is training hard in California in preparation for his August 13 fight at Cene Park against George Mchedlishvili (8-4-1).  “It is easier to focus when I am here because I don’t have to worry about work and can concentrate strictly on boxing”, commentd Giuriceo from California.

Duarte disagreed with the distraction factor.  “Going into his last fight, he trained hard but there are things that mentally take him out of that zone.  He was trying to sell a car, looking for an apartment, and making phone calls a lot.  When he is here, there is really nothing else for him to do except focus and stay dedicated, both physically and mentally.  I expect him to look like a polished contender and he has added stuff each fight that I have gotten to work with him.  It started with head movement and  his footwork, it has now progressed to angles and sliding away from punches.  He eats right, runs daily, and lives a very clean lifestyle, physically he is where he needs to be. He has sparred with some great fighters here and I am really happy with his progress and attitude.”

Duarte will be in the Youngstown area for the fight on August 13.  He will work with Giuriceo and his local trainer, Keith Burnside, in the week leading up to the Cene Park card.  Mike Cefalde is promoting the event and it will mark the third time that Giuriceo has headlined for Cefalde.

Former Youngstown State cornerback Brandian Ross (Richmond, Va.) has signed as an undrafted free agent with the World Champion Green Bay Packers. Ross is the first YSU defensive player to sign with an NFL franchise as an undrafted free agent since Russell Stuvaints in 2003.

Ross, a second-team All-Missouri Valley Football Conference selection in 2010, played in 45 games during his YSU career, starting in 33 of his final 34 games. He had 223 total tackles, seven interceptions, three fumble recorveries and two forced fumbles in his career from 2007-10. During his career, he played both safety and cornerback as well as seeing action on special-teams coverage units.

In 2010, he was credited with 60 total tackles, including 40 solo stops. He also had a team-high three interceptions. In 2009, He moved to cornerback from safety during the campaign because of injuries. For the year, he had 47 total tackles and two interceptions. In 2008, Ross was an honorable-mention all-conference selection. In 12 games, he posted a team-high 98 tackles. As a freshman in 2007, he finished with 18 tackles while appearing in every game on special teams and as a reserve in the secondary.

A four-year letterwinner, the 22-year-old Ross was a team captain during his senior season in 2010 and never redshirted.

The only other known Penguin to sign with the Packlers was defensive tackle Harry Deligianis.