Posts Tagged ‘Tony Wolters’

Meet Jake Lowery.  He has started his professional baseball career with a bang. Drafted in the fourth round of the 2011 Major League Baseball Draft by the Cleveland Indians, the James Madison alumnus has been a standout for the Mahoning Valley Scrappers.  Lowery recently won the Johnny Bench Award, which is given to the best catcher at the collegiate level.  His work behind the plate as a catcher combined with his array of power he shows with the bat are making him a commodity that could be promoted to bigger things by the end of the season.  I recently interviewed the 21-year old to discuss his career path and his home life.  Like so many of this years Scrappers, he has a great attitude and was fun to chat with.

Paneech: Recently, you won the Johnny Bench Award, what is it and how did you win?

Lowery: It is an award given to the top collegiate catcher in the nation.  There was a starting list of 39 that got knocked down to 13.  I was fortunate enough to be in the final three with a catcher from Florida and a catcher from Wichita State, and I ended up coming out on top.  It was a great experience and I got to spend a whole day with Johnny Bench.

Paneech: You get drafted and thrown into this team [Scrappers] without really knowing any of your coaches or teammates, how is it working and who have you gotten close to on the team?

Lowery: I am pretty close with Tony Wolters and Jerrud Sabourin. I get rides from those guys and we hang out a lot.  I am also close with John Barr and Will Roberts because they went to Virginia and that’s where I am from.  I like everyone on the team and we all get along really well and I’m happy that it has been so easy to mesh with all of these guys.

Paneech: Do you have a lot of contact with your family and friends back home?

Lowery: Yes, I do.  In fact, my parents are here this week to see me for the first time as a pro.  It’s been like 30 games already, but this is my first game as a pro that they can come and see me play, I am very excited about it.

Paneech: How is the host family experience working out for you?

Lowery: It is really going good here.  I had a really bad experience with a host family my Freshman year and this experience has been 100% better.  I have food, a place to stay, cable television, and air conditioning.  The bad experience was the opposite of this as I had cat poop all over my bed, crickets on my bed, no cable TV for a whole Summer.  It was just a miserable and rough experience.

Paneech: You do well as a catcher, but you DH some nights and have popped up in the lineup at first base lately.  Where are you going to want to be?

Lowery: I have been told by people who know to learn first base as it could possibly open some doors later in my career.  They try to keep me fresh, so I DH some nights too.  It all comes down to me being able to hit and to play this great game – I am having fun.

Paneech: Are you used to this heavy traveling schedule yet?

Lowery: It has been like a whirlwind.  The first week we had six home games and just when I was getting used to that, a road trip starts.  I then had to do some extra traveling and went to Texas for the Johnny Bench Award.  I think I have gotten into a good routine and know what I have to do get ready for a game.  Traveling is pretty fun and you get to hang out with all of the guys.

Paneech: How has it been to play for Coach Wallace so far?

Lowery: Both Coach Wallace and Coach Manso [Tony Mansolino] are young guys. They are fresh out of the game and both bring a wealth of experience from the game. We stay pretty loose as a group, but we know when we have to be serious.  They do a good job keeping everyone loose and their experience is really starting to show as we get further along in the season.

Paneech: Are you getting used to people badgering you after games for autographs and requests for a bat?

Lowery: I am getting used to it, everyone asks for a bat and I can’t give everyone a bat, but I’m like, “Hey, I will sign your ball” and sometimes that is good enough. Yesterday, some girl asked me what number I was and I told her number 30.  It must not have been who she was looking for because she walked away, she must have been looking for someone else (laughs).  Anytime you can sign an autograph for somebody and it makes their day, it is a beautiful thing.  It is not something we are required to do, but I feel like it is a rewarding thing for both sides.

One Word Answers

Favorite Major League Player: Chipper Jones.

Biggest Phobia: Snakes.

Toppings On A Pizza: Pepperoni And Onions.

Favorite Sport Other Than Baseball: Football.  I was a wide receiver and a long-snapper.

Favorite Song: Chicken Fried by The Zac Brown Band.

Worst Habit: I try not to have any bad habits.

Favorite Pitch To Hit: A middle-in fastball.

Typical Fast Food Order: Three Soft Tacos, Nachos Supreme, and a large Mountain Dew.

Dream Car: An Escalade.

Favorite Drink: Mountain Dew.  It’s a refreshing thing and always tastes better after a win or a two-hit game.

Toughest Question:  You are playing in a developmental league yet you are an athlete conditioned to win.  How tough is it to have a 3-4 night at the plate when you lose compared to going 0-4 when you win?

Lowery: I try to take it in stride.  If I go 2-4 or 3-4 and we lose, I know I did my part but other things like pitching or defense were not right.  We get to play 76 games in 80 days and we know that we are going to win some and lose some.  You never want to go out there and try to lose.  It sucks when you go 0-6, but if the team wins when you go 0-6, you have to look at it as getting a win and getting a step closer to the playoffs.  When you lose, you just have to move on.

Top Photo:  Courtesy of Jesse Piecuch

The Mahoning Valley Scrappers offense had been pretty potent all season.  State College came into Wednesday’s contest in the basement of the NYPL Pinckney Division, nine games behind the Scrappers.  The Scrappers entered the game in a three-way tie for first. The Scrappers fought and clawed their way back from a two-run ninth inning deficit to tie the game, but a Carlos Mesa home run gave State College a hard fought 5-4 victory in ten innings.

The Spikes recorded the first run of the game in the first inning.  Chris Lashmet hit an RBI single knocking in Walter Gourley.  The Spikes made it 3-0 in the fourth when Scrapper starter Danny Jimenez uncorked a wild pitch allowing Carlos Mesa to score.  Jimenez went 5 1/3 innings for the Scrappers.

Alex Lavisky (below) got the Scrappers on the board with a solo home run in the fifth.  For Lavisky it was his third home run and he seems to be swinging the bat much better in the last couple of weeks.

State College looked like a different team than they had their first four games this season at Eastwood Field (0-4).  Their pitching kept Scrapper hitters off-balance for most of the game and they played well as a team.  The Scrappers did not do well with situational hitting and just couldn’t seem to get into the rhythm that they have performed at most of this season until the ninth inning.

Todd Hankins hit a solo home run to lead off the seventh inning.  Hankins crushed the Mike Jefferson offering over the visitor bullpen fence clearing the back wall, which is about fifteen feet high.  The Hankins dinger made it a two-run game and hope was still alive.

The Scrappers threatened in the eighth inning when John Barr had a one-out single.  State College went to the bullpen and brought in Emmanuel De Leon to face the potential tying runs, Lavisky and Hankins who both homered earlier in the game.  Lavisky flew out to left, just getting under one.  Hankins grounded out to second, end of the threat.

In the ninth inning, Tony Wolters (above) knocked in Jerrud Sabourin, who walked on four pitches to start the ninth.  Jake Lowery hit a mammoth sac fly to deep center to bring home Cody Elliott and tie the game.  In the top of the tenth, Carlos Mesa blasted one over the left field wall to put State College back in front, 5-4.

In the bottom of the tenth, Lavisky started the inning with a single and was bunted to second by Hankins.  The Spikes brought in reliever Vince Payne to face Sabourin.  The Scrapper first baseman lined out to short.  Aaron Siliga stepped in with two outs but flew out to center.

Will Krasne took the loss for the Scrappers.  These two teams will travel to State College and play three more times over the next three days.

The Mahoning Valley Scrappers took advantage of some early run production and rode their solid pitching and defense to the finish line in a 6-1 victory over State College.  The Scrappers scored five times in the first four innings and never looked back.  State College scored their lone run of the game in the top of the ninth inning.

Will Roberts was the starting pitcher for Mahoning Valley.  He threw four solid innings of shutout baseball, but unfortunately needed to go five innings to get the win.  The gift win was given to Harold Guerrerro who started the fifth inning with a 5-0 lead.  Guerrerro proved worthy to get the “W” as he threw four solid innings of scoreless baseball as well.

Four different Scrappers drove in runs with Tony Wolters and John Barr collecting a pair of RBI’s each.  Wolters finished the game 2-4, and Barr was 1-3 with a sacrifice fly.  State College did themselves no favors as their pitchers hit three Scrappers.  Jordan Smith was beaned his first two times at-bat (above photo).

Perhaps the most impressive ingredient of baseball that the Scrappers flashed in the win was the solid fundamental defense.  Routine plays were nightmares for State College, but Mahoning Valley was doing some pretty special stuff on defense seemingly every inning.  In the above photo, the Scrappers SS, Tony Wolters, had enough smarts to stop a ball in the hole and fire to third to take down the lead runner in a one-out situation early on.  3B Evan Frazar was waiting and the timing was perfect to eliminate the runner.  Jordan Smith threw a runner out at home from right field on a beautiful throw.  It was a great performance by the Scrappers.

“I was really pleased with our pitching tonight”, commented Manager David Wallace.  “Will Roberts was tough on their hitters and [Harold] Guerrerro came in and performed exceptionally tonight.”

Will Roberts

The Scrappers and Spikes wrap up their short series on Wednesday night at Eastwood Field.  Mahoning Valley is 4-0 against State College at home this season.

One Scrapper who was on the fast track has been slowed recently.  KC Serna took a line drive to the face in Jamestown while the team was on the road.  Wallace said that they are waiting for Serna to be cleared and that there is a small fracture with some bone sediment loose.

Connecticut escaped Niles with a win and avoided being swept by the Mahoning Valley Scrappers, posting a 7-4 win at Eastwood Field.  The Tigers strung together good things in a row during a couple of different innings.  The Tigers got three hits from Curt Casali, including a monstrous home run, and a couple of doubles from Colin Kaline in the win.  The Scrappers kept battling back, but ultimately dug a hole too deep to climb out of.

“Our goal is to win the series and we went for a sweep tonight”, commented Scrappers Manager David Wallace.  “Both teams played hard and we just made one more mistake than they did.  They capitalized on it like good teams do.”

For the Scrappers, Jordan Smith (below) stayed hot collecting a couple more hits and knocking in the first two Scrapper runs.  Smith extended his hitting streak to eleven games with the hits.

Wallace talked about Smith and the productivity he has been putting out.  “Jordan has put together good at-bats for us all year.  He works hard and prepares himself.  He doesn’t try to do too much, but when the situation calls for it, he opens it up a little bit and lets it fly.  When he gets down in a two-strike count, he is one of the best at battling and getting the barrel on the ball.”

The Scrappers scored a pair of runs in the first when KC Serna and Tony Wolters consecutively walked on four pitches each.  After both runners moved up a bag, Smith laced a single for the 2-0 Scrappers lead.

Scrappers starter Will Roberts, making his first start of the year pitched two innings.  The decision was premeditated by the coaching staff to give Roberts two innings or roughly 40 pitches in his debut.  Danny Jimenez relieved Roberts to start the third and took the tough loss, exiting the game down only one run.

In the sixth inning, the Tigers got back-to-back doubles from Zach Maggard and Kaline to take a 3-2 lead.  In the bottom half of the inning, the Scrappers reclaimed the lead Evan Frazar singled to knock in Jake Lowery and then Cody Elliott drew a base on balls with the sacks full forcing home Alex Lavisky to go ahead 4-3.

The Scrappers lost the lead when PJ Polk laid down a perfect bunt up the first base line that was errantly thrown into right field.  Jason King then doubled to knock in two with a bases-loaded double.  Jason Holm then hit a sacrifice fly to right to put the Tigers in front 6-4.  They would add a run in the ninth.  New Scrapper Henry Dunn was giving chase to a ball that was hit to the right-center field wall.  Dunn had a nasty collision with the fence and stayed down for a minute but eventually popped up and stayed in the game.  Eugenio Suarez ended up with a triple on the great effort by Dunn.  Suarez would trot in on a sac fly by King to give the Tigers a 7-4 lead.

The Scrappers hit the road for a three-game set with Jamestown.  Bryson Myles is almost ready to return from a pulled hamstring injury that has kept him out of action all week.   Aaron Siliga, who rolled an ankle, should also be ready to roll within the next couple of days.

Scrapper fans got a little treat at Eastwood Field Wednesday.  Indians Prospect, Jeanmar Gomez, made a start in preparation to join the Indians after the break.  Gomez is rumored to be taking the place of Mitch Talbot in the Indians rotation.  Talbot is having arm problems and has been placed on the DL.  Gomez pitched four innings but did not factor into the decision as the Scrappers won, 2-1, to take the series opener against Connecticut.

“I felt good, I tried to work on all of my pitches”, remarked Gomez after the game.  “There is a lot of good energy with these players here, and that’s a good think for the organization.  They play hard and do the best that they can.  I told them that they have to learn something every day while they are here, make the effort to pick something new up every chance you get.“

Manager David Wallace didn’t see Gomez as a distraction, but rather a benefit, to his club.  “It’s a great thing, these guys got to see the way that Jeanmar prepared for his start.  They see the way he went out there and attacked the hitters with his fastball.  He is not Fausto Carmona with fantastic stuff, but to his credit, he knows how to pitch.  I’ll be interested to see what this team took from it.”

Gomez threw hard in his four innings of work.  He gave up five hits and one earned run while striking out three Tigers.  Gomez’s appearance will not live up to an Asdrubal Cabrera rehab appearance last season, but it is always nice when the big club sends the talent to Niles for a day, and the crowd of 2,611 surely appreciated their chance to watch the hard-throwing pitcher. Gomez, below with Scrappers catcher Alex Lavisky, is on the cusp of bigger things, very soon.

The Tigers were not intimidated by Gomez as they plated the first run of the game in the fourth.  Patrick Leyland, son of Jim Leyland, singled home Jeff Holm off of Gomez to put Connecticut ahead 1-0.

The Scrappers tied the game in the bottom of the fifth.  Cody Elliott singled and moved to third when Tony Wolters singled.  Elliott would trot home from third when Jake Lowery singled to pick up his eleventh RBI of the season.

Joseph Colon, who usually starts games for the Scrappers, entered the game to start the fifth and pitched very well.  Colon worked five scoreless innings in picking up the win in relief of Gomez.

New Scrapper, Evan Frazar singled to start the ninth.  Elliott bunted Frazar to second and then the new guy showed his wheels taking third.  KC Serna (above) knocked Frazar in with a clean single over the second baseman’s head to give the Scrappers the nice win.

Serna has embraced the hero role a lot lately and Wallace thinks it can get contagious.  “We preach quality at-bats whether we are up five or down five.  Be a better hitter with two strikes and make contact.  These guys are doing a good job battling right now.”

The Mahoning Valley Scrappers and Batavia Muckdogs combined for 23 runs,  28 hits, and 8 errors.  When the dust cleared, the Scrappers pulled out a wild 12-11 win in the bottom of the ninth.  KC Serna came through with a bases-loaded hit to give the Scrappers a crazy 12-11 win over a resilient Batavia team.

Batavia scored three in the top of the first, as they did last night.  The Muckdogs used four hits, a hit batter, and a throwing error to formulate the three runs.  Roberto Reyes, Jeremy Patton, Romulo Ruiz, and Juan Castillo hit singles for Batavia off of Scrapper starter Harold Guerrero.  Guerrero struggled to throw strikes and when he did Batavia was hitting them.

Also like last night, the Scrappers scored a run in the bottom of the first to cut Batavia’s lead to 3-1.  Tony Wolters and KC Serna drew back-to-back one out walks.  With Alex Lavisky at the plate, the runners both moved up a bag on a double steal.  The Batavia catcher threw the ball past the covering second baseman allowing Wolters to score.  One run on no hits for Mahoning Valley.

After Guerrero settled down and struck out two of the three Muckdogs he faced in the second inning, Mahoning Valley went to work in the bottom of the second against Batavia starter Patrick Daugherty.  John Barr walked with one out.  Kevin Fontanez reached on an error by the third baseman.  Cody Elliott then smacked a double to the base of the left field wall bringing home Barr.  Bryson Myles (below) then hit a slow grounder to short allowing Fontanez to touch the plate and tie the game.  Wolters drilled a shot back up the box that deflected off of Daugherty’s foot and rolled toward Batavia’s dugout.  Elliott raced home to give the Scrappers a 4-3 lead after two innings.

In the third, the Scrappers went ahead 5-3 when John Barr collected his first hit as a Scrapper which drove in Todd Hankins.  Hankins reached on a single.  Fontanez brought home Barr with a line single to right to increase the Scrappers lead to 6-3.  That would be it for Batavia starter Daugherty who gave up five earned runs, one unearned run, and walked three Scrappers in 2 2/3 innings.

New Batavia pitcher Sean Watson was greeted rudely as Myles singled home a seventh Scrappers run in the third.

Batavia tied the game in the fourth at 7-7.  Guerrero faced two Muckdogs before being pulled in favor of Tony Dischler,who could not record an out before allowing Batavia to tie the game.  Batavia took an 8-7 lead when Dischler unloaded a wild pitch later in Batavia’s five-run fourth inning.

The Scrappers scored five times in the bottom of the sixth to take an 11-8 lead.  With one out, Wolters and Serna hit back-to-back singles and moved up a base when new Batavia pitcher Travis Miller hit Lavisky on a 2-0 count.  With the sacks full, Jordan Smith (above) hit a chopper about ten feet from where he was batting and everyone was safe to tie the game.  Miller unleashed a wild pitch to allow Serna in with the lead run.  Hankins reached on an error by Batavia to reload the bases.  Barr came through with a clean single to right.

Batavia battled back to tie the game with two runs in the seventh and another in the eighth.

In the bottom of the ninth, Elliott drew a one out walk.  Myles then hit a rocket single that moved Elliott to third setting the stage Serna who delivered with the game-winner.

The Mahoning Valley Scrappers got an uncharacteristically bad night from the pitching staff in an 8-3 loss to Batavia.  The Scrappers unloaded three wild pitches, walked seven, and hit two batters.  Combine that with three Scrapper errors, all adding up to result in most of Batavias scoring.  An energetic crowd of 3,102 saw the Muckdogs bat through their order five times.

Batavia put a three spot up in the top of the first inning off of Scrappers starter Joseph Colon.  Four consecutive hits and a bases loaded walk to Nick Martini put the home team into an unwanted early hole.

The Scrappers answered with a run of their own in the bottom of the first.  Bryson Myles stayed hot with a leadoff single and moved to second on a Tony Wolters sacrifice bunt.  Jake Lowery then stepped in and drilled an RBI double scoring Myles from second to cut the deficit to 3-1.

Jeremy Patton trotted home with another run for the Muckdogs in the third on a fielders choice.  Colon was struggling with his control throughout his 81 pitch effort.  The Scrappers hurler would get yanked after 3 2/3 innings and seems like he is either off or extremely effective with no mediocrity in four home starts.

Trailing 4-1, one swing of the bat brought the Scrappers a run closer in the sixth inning.  Wolters (above) connected for a home run to right-center that almost hit the scoreboard.  The inning would not end until Mahoning Valley added another run when Lowery was plated by an Alex Lavisky ground rule double to left that one-hopped the wall to make it a 4-3 Muckdogs lead.  Lowery walked earlier in the frame.

Joey Bergman led off the seventh for Batavia and hit a clean single to right.  The ball was misplayed by Myles in right  and got by him allowing Bergman to scamper to third base.  Scrapper reliever Nate Stitz uncorked a wild pitch allowing Bergman a free pass home to increase the Batavia lead to 5-3.

“It’s all a part of the process”, commented Scrapper manager David Wallace after the game.  “These guys will put this one behind them and get back at it tomorrow.”

The Scrappers left a pair of runners on in the eighth and were too far behind to catch up in the ninth.  These two teams will play the second half of the mini two-game series on Sunday.  First pitch at Eastwood Field is set for 5:05 p.m.

There is no better way to celebrate the first official day of Summer than at the ballpark.  Good baseball is good pitching – period.  Tuesday, the Scrappers got plenty of it in defeating Batavia 2-0 in front of 2,706 fans at Eastwood Field.  Danny Jimenez, Cody Allen, and Bryce Stoewell combined to shutout the Muckdogs, striking out a total of 11 batters en route to the victory to improve to 3-2.

Batavia posed the first threat to score in the fourth inning.  Scrappers starter Danny Jimenez got into some problems and exited the game after 60 pitches with runners on second and third with one out.  Cody Allen entered the game for the Scrappers and struck out Kevin Moscatel and Virgil Hill to keep the game scoreless.   One night earlier, Moscatel homered and Hill had a key RBI, but both came up empty against Allen.

Thunder and lightning made their Summer debut from a distance in the fifth, but play went on and the game stayed scoreless until the bottom of the inning.  Kevin Fontanez, on his 21st birthday, put the Scrappers ahead 1-0 with an RBI scorcher down the third base line for a double. Todd Hankins hustled from first base to cross the plate with the run.

Through seven innings and the Scrappers holding the slim 1-0 lead, the threat of rain still loomed and Allen was supplying reasons for the fans to stay.  Allen pitched 3 1/3 innings of shutout relief and struck out six of the eleven batters he faced.  In a well-pitched, tight game like this one, the bullpen was crucial for both teams and Allen really showed he belonged.

Scrappers leadoff hitter, Cody Elliott (above), has been consistent collecting a couple of hits over the last couple of games, including two more Tuesday.  Tony Wolters has also been very productive and doubled with two outs in the bottom of the eighth.  Bryson Myles (below), who homered on Monday, doubled home Wolters to double the Scrappers lead to 2-0.

Great pitching wins games, and this one was no exception as the Scrappers got a phenomenal effort from a trio of newcomers.  After the game Coach David Wallace talked about the pen.  “I am really happy with the effort we got tonight from all of the pitchers.  Danny [Jimenez] did a great job giving us a spot start and battled.  Cody [Allen] seemed like he was striking everyone out and picked up a win, and Bryce [Stoewell] was able to come in and close the door.”

Wallace also commented that it is easier to win games when you aren’t committing six errors, like the Scrappers did Monday in a 10-7 loss.  He also praised the timely hitting of many offensive players saying to this point he is very content with the effort his young Scrappers are putting forth.

With a serious threat of rain on the radar, the Eastwood Field grounds crew and the Scrappers employees peeled the tarp off and got the game started right on time.  The Mahoning Valley Scrappers had a rough time with different elements, notably fundamentals.  Batavia trailed 1-0 in the first inning but roared back to beat the Scrappers, 10-7, thanks to 6 errors committed by the home team.

The Scrappers wasted little time getting on the scoreboard.  Cody Elliott recorded a double on a check swing and advanced to third when Tony Wolters singled.  Elliott scored when Jake Lowery (above) grounded out to second and avoided being a double play victim by hustling to first.  The RBI was the fourth in two games for Lowery.

Batavia evened the score in the top of the second aided by two walks off of Scrappers starter Rob Nixon.  Virgil Hill made Nixon pay with a clean RBI single to tie the game.  In the top of the third, Batavia tacked on another run when Romulo Ruiz tripled to the base of the left-centerfield wall.  Ruiz got home on a wild pitch to give the Muckdogs the lead.  In the fourth, Kevin Moscatel hit a home run to left field to increase the Muckdogs lead to 3-1.  Back-to-back doubles by Mike O’Neill and Jeremy Patton created another run later in the fourth inning for Batavia.

Aaron Siliga and Casey Serna hit back-to-back singles to start the fourth inning for the Scrappers.  Siliga scored from second when Batavia could not complete a double play at first base and the ball trickled past first baseman David Medina, to make it 6-2.

Bryson Myles cut the Batavia lead to 6-3 with one swing of the bat in the bottom of the fifth to bring the Scrappers back to striking distance.  It was the first home run hit by a Scrapper player this season. In the top half of the sixth, unfortunately, Cesar Valera answered with his own long bomb to keep the Scrappers at a four-run deficit with the score at 7-3.  Medina hit the third home run of the game for Batavia to atone for his error and give the visitors a 9-3 lead.

The Scrappers got two more runs back in the seventh when Alex Lavisky hit a two-run double driving in Wolters and Lowery to make the score 9-5.  Batavia added to their lead in the eighth though and the Scrappers would not get closer than a 10-7 deficit.  It should be noted that Kyle Petter struck out three Muckdogs in the top of the ninth.

Nixon took the loss for the Scrappers (2-2) and Jose Almarante got the win for Batavia (2-2).  These two teams will hook up for two more games on Tuesday (Buck Night) and Wednesday.

After the game, Mahoning Valley Skipper, David Wallace, was optimistic with good reason.  “In the two losses, the thing that I see is that these guys do not give up.  I can take losing if the effort is there, and it was tonight.  We had a chance to come back and win in the late innings and stayed in the game overcoming the six errors.  We made some mistakes, but it is still very early in the season and we are going to be ok.”