SERIES OPENING COMEBACK FALLS SHORT
By Ty Bartell
NILES OH- After a week-long road trip facing the likes of Frederick and Williamsport, The Mahoning Valley Scrappers returned home to welcome in The Frederick Keys for the first time this season. Going 3-2 on the previous road trip, The Scrappers and The Keys each took a game off each other at Frederick, with the final game being canceled due to air quality from the wildfires in Canada.
The Keys sent starter Nolan Santos while Mahoning Valley had Elijah Pleasants on the bump. After getting the initial strikeout in the top of the first, Pleasants walked Jevin Relaford, who went on to steal second base before being brought home, courtesy of a Kendry Maduro RBI-double. Two batters later and The Keys would double their lead after a fielding error allowed Brady Cerkownyk to reach and plate Maduro from second, giving Fredericak an early 2-0 advantage.
A quiet bottom of the first inning got the Frederick bats right back up in the second, in which they did some more damage. With the bottom of the order due up, The Keys worked back-to-back walks to start the top of the second before both Logan Sanders and Tervel, Johnson executed a double steal that put two in scoring position with no outs. A productive out by Ty Hamilton and an RBI-single from Marcus Sanders cleared the two in scoring position.Racking them back up, Jevin Relaford smacked a one out double in the same inning before another productive out, this time from Maduro, extended the lead 5-0 heading to the bottom of the second.
Despite The Mahoning Valley bats getting back-to-back one out singles, The Scrappers were once again held without a run as Santos did a great job on the mound limiting damage. After both teams posted zeros in both the third and fourth innings, Frederick broke it all the way open in the top of the fifth. Jacob McKeon started the inning with a single and two batters later Indiana Stanley hit a one out double. With second and third occupied, Logan Sanders batted both runners in with a two RBI-single. Two batters later, Ty Hamilton capped-off the inning going lift-off with a three run blast, giving The Keys a 10-0 lead. Giving Hamilton both his first hit and first homerun of The MLB Draft League season.
After taking the big shot, it seemed as if Mahoning Valley was down and buried. However, The Scrappers started to rally in the bottom of the seventh. After facing the likes of Nolan Santos and Luis Rodriguez, Mahoning Valley had little luck coming up with the timely hit. The Keys sent out Jordan Hamberg as the third pitcher of the evening to log some innings and keep the lead. Well, The Scrappers were hungry for some offense and Hamberg fed! After walking Anndreaus Lewis II and striking out JR Bedford to follow, it seemed as if it was another “business as usual” inning on the night. Back to the top of the order and Ny’Zaiah Thompson drew the walk before both Lewis II and Thompson stole a base on consecutive pitches to set up second and third for Danny Doligale who delivered a two RBI-single to get The Scrappers on the board. Colton Coates would walk before a Mason Sykes double plated both Doligale and Coates, then, the hometown kid Braeden O’Shaughnessey blasted one to left-center, giving Mahoning Valley a six run bottom of the seventh! Trimming the Frederick lead to just four at 10-6.
Gant Starling was called to stop the bleeding and get The Keys out of the seventh, after hitting Connor Capece with a pitch, Starling did just that by getting the next two outs in order. After logging four and a third innings in his start, Scrappers starter Elijah Pleasants gave the ball to Nick Consentino who went two and two thirds innings before he handed the ball to Cameron Liss to start the eighth. Despite allowing a single and a walk in the top half of the frame, Liss posted a zero to keep the deficit at four. Starling returned to pitch the bottom of the eighth which he gave up a leadoff single to JR Bedford, who eventually made his way to third, but not before Starling got the first two outs in the inning following the base hit. A wild pitch that was corralled by Stanley and tossed home to Starling, retired Bedford at the dish who was trying to take home. The out got Frederick out of the inning, but at the expense of Gant Starling who injured his left leg making the great play for the out.
The Scrappers posted another zero to get them to the bottom of the ninth, but new Keys pitcher Logan Tabeling was having none of that comeback talk. Sending Mahoning Valley down in order 1..2..3.. in the bottom of the ninth to seal the victory 10-6 for Frederick. Both The Scrappers (5-5) and The Keys (5-5) will be back in action on Tuesday evening for the second game of the series, scheduled for a 7:05 p.m. first pitch and can be found on YSN
