Posts Tagged ‘Kyle Bellows’

On a very busy night at Eastwood Field, the Mahoning Valley Scrappers completed a sweep of the Auburn Doubledays, winning 4-3 in 14 innings.  The four hour and twenty-four minute marathon was the longest in Niles since the Scrappers beat Staten Island, 3-2, on August 6 of 2005.

Kelly Pavlik was at the park signing copies of his book alongside authors David Lee Morgan, Jr. and Greg Gulas.  Pavlik also threw out the ceremonial first pitch (above).  The weather was perfect for the big crowd to enjoy “Buck Night”, as well as an appearance from the Cavs dancers.  There was something going on everywhere before the game started.

Once the game started, Auburn jumped out to an early 1-0 lead on a Yan Gomes double.  In the top of the sixth, Auburn tacked on another run as Jimmy Gonzales drove in Welington Ramirez with a bases-loaded RBI single with one out.  Scrapper reliever Jose Urena pitched himself out of the bases-loaded one out jam to keep the score at 2-0 in favor of the Doubledays.

In the bottom of the sixth, Mahoning Valley got on the board as Jordan Henry singled and advanced to second on Lurvin Basabe’s walk.  Jason Smit found the hole between short and third scoring the speedy Henry cutting the lead to 2-1.  After Ben Carlson walked to load the bases, Chun Chen was hit by a pitch forcing in the tying run to knot the contest at two apiece.

In the tenth inning, Auburn got a run when Welington Ramirez singled home Brad Glenn.  The Scrappers tied the game in the bottom of the tenth as Ben Carlson led off with a single.  Carlson was then lifted for pinch runner Kyle Bellows, who stole second base.  Chen came through again with an RBI double that scored Bellows tying the game at 3-3.

In the bottom of the 14th inning, Rafael Vera delivered with a two-out, two-strike RBI single that would score Chen lifting the Scrappers to their fourth straight victory.

After the game, Coach Travis Fryman commented  on the long game.  ” I don’t have a lot of answers for that ball game, I really don’t.  I thought it was a very poorly played game, but a very gutsy game.  Both teams played hard for 14 innings.  We had many opportunities to win that game and it should not have went 14 innings.”

Fryman was also very praiseworthy of his catcher, Chun Chen.  “Fourteen innings to catch, three steals, three or four hits, it was a very gutsy effort on his part.”

A new feature here will be the Smit-O-Meter, tracking the nightly efforts of Scrapper Jason Smit, one of the most charismatic athletes I have ever met.

The 7-9-09 Smit-O Meter:  3-7 with an RBI (10), currently batting .325.

The Mahoning Valley Scrappers were finally able to get one over on Williamsport taking the finale of the three game set, 3-0. In front of 3,945 fans on fireworks night.   Marty Popham had his best career start with help from two relievers to keep the Crosscutters off of the scoreboard. 

Popham was the story in this game as he reached career highs in innings pitched throwing six scoreless frames.  He also struck out six batters, another career best.  He walked no one and was never really in trouble.  Popham’s shutout effort was preserved by Guido Fonseca and Cory Burns.  Burns recorded his second save.

Mahoning Valley got on the scoreboard in the bottom of the fifth inning.  John Allman walked and scored on a Kyle Bellows RBI double.  Bellows later scored on a Tim Palincsar RBI single making it 2-0 in favor of the Scrappers.

The Scrappers added an insurance run in the bottom of the seventh when Bellows reached on a throwing error.  With one out, Kyle Smith and Tim Palincsar walked to load the bases.  Catcher Dwight Childs groundout to second base was enough to score Bellows to make it 3-0 in favor of the home team.

Interestingly enough, the Scrappers only had two hits and still managed to score three runs.  Manager Travis Fryman said, ” Timely hits are certainly better than a plethora of hits.  Timely hits are the best kind.”

Jason Smit had a weird game for the Scrappers on offense.  Smit was hit by pitches in his third and fourth at-bats.  His second at-bat resulted in a poor call by the two-man umpire crew as Smit hit a laser to center that everyone but the umpire saw the center fielder trap.  The umpires called Smit out.  After the game, Smit commented, ” Definitely a strange game, not too many things went my way tonight.  I took one in the back and also got hit pretty hard in my achiles.  The thing is that they’re here (the umpires in the Penn League), just like we are, to learn.  They’re trying their hardest, so what can you do.”

Fourth-round draft pick Kyle Bellows commented on how it felt to finally come through fot the Scrappers offense.  ” It feels great to help the team win.  We’ll take ’em how we can get ’em right now.  We aren’t scoring a lot of runs, we’re working hard and it’s been paying off.”

The Scrappers head out to Jamestown for a special 1:05 start time for the 4th of July.

On a beautiful night for baseball, the Mahoning Valley Scrappers saw their undefeated streak end at five games.  The Scrappers had chances but could not get a big hit when they needed one, ultimately losing to the State College Spikes, 2-1.

State College took a 1-0 lead in the second inning on a Pat Irvine RBI single.  With only one out and the bases loaded, Scrapper starter Anthony Ryan escaped without further damage.  Jose Hernandez hit a sac fly for the Spikes in the 3rd inning driving home Tony Sanchez.

Mahoning Valley answered with a Jason Smit RBI single driving in Kyle Bellows who doubled to open the inning.  With men on first and third, the Scrappers could only push their lone run across the plate as Tyler Cox struck out Kyle Smith and Rafael Vera looking to end the inning.

Scrappers Coach Travis Fryman knew the streak couldn’t last forever, “They made some great plays on defense and didn’t beat themselves.  We just couldn’t get a timely hit when we needed one all night.”

State College showacsed the Pirates #1 Draft Pick, Tony Sanchez, behind the plate.  Watching Sanchez throw a ball to second when the pitcher is done warming up is a treat.  Sanchez’s ball tails left to right a bit.  He blocked pitches in the dirt all night and moves with catlike quickness from his stance.

The Scrappers return home on July 1 to face Williamsport.  First pitch is set for 7:00 at Cafaro Field.