By Ed Farrell
Herald Assistant Sports Editor
NILES — Mahoning Valley made it interesting, before the Scrappers survived in their 2009 New York-Penn League Pinckney Division lidlifer Friday night.
Visiting Jamestown rallied for a pair of 9th-inning runs and had the potential tying run on 3rd with 1 out. However righthanded reliever Brian Grening got Rand Smith and Zach Moore on back-to-back called 3rd strikes, preserving a 6-5 win before 4,118 at Eastwood Field.
“It’s always interesting; the last three outs are the hardest to get,” ruefully acknowledged smiling 2nd-year Scrappers’ skipper Travis Fryman.
Mahoning Valley mustered a 6-3 lead and needed only 3 outs. But after Ernesto Manzanillo flied out to commence the 9th, Chase Austin slammed a solo shot off Grening, drawing the Jammers within 6-4.
When Chad Cregar corned an infield popup, vitually Mahoning Valley’s entire infield converged at the pitcher’s mound before the ball dropped in. Robert Taylor tattooed an RBI-double to right-center, making it 6-5, then stole 3rd before Grening got the final 2 outs.
Scrappers’ southpaw starter Kaimi Mead mustered a fine 5-inning outing. On 70 pitches (47 strikes) he allowed just 1 hit — Manzanillo’s 4th-frame solo shot to left-center — and 2 runs while whiffing a pair.
“I threw a lot of strikes, got ahead of a lot of hitters, and when (the Jammers) put the ball in play, my defense backed me up to the fullest, made some big plays out there and got the job done,” mused Mead, who was 5-8 with a 5.28 ERA in 15 Scrappers’ starts last year when he whiffed 40, but walked 24. Friday night he walked 1.
“He threw the ball very well. It’s the maturity of having been here last year that really showed up,” Fryman assessed. “At one time I think he retired 15 of 17 batters, so it was a great first game for him.”
Mead and fellow returnees Guido Fonseca and Grening scattered 7 hits. Grening got the save, while Fonseca tossed 2 innings of 2-hit, 1-run middle-relief. Collectively they struck out 7.
Offensively, DH John Allman annexed a 2-run 1st-frame double, then added a insurance run-scoring two-bagger in the 8th on a ball right fielder Cregar should have speared. Bo Greenwell got a pair of infield hits and tallied twice and Jason Smit and Kyle Smith both stroked 2 safeties. Smit scored twice, also.
Mahoning Valley led 5-0 after 2 innings, before “ ... they shut us down,” Fryman admitted. “We swung the bats and ran the bases pretty well and took advantage of the mistakes they made (2 errors in the 1st 2 innings, plus a wild pitch and balk by starter Curtis Petersen), we capitalized on that. But our sitational hitting wasn’t that good (Friday) night. We had three opportunites with a runner on third and less than two outs, but didn’t execute on any of those — you’ll lose some ballgames if you don’t do that very well.
“But I’m real pleased with the first game. ... We threw three pitchers (Friday) night who were here last year, and it showed. But it’s always nice to get that first (win); get the zeroes off the board,” Fryman concluded.
Notes: The teams meet today at 7:05, with the scheduled starters being the Scrappers’ Clayton Cook and Jammers’ Blake Brewer, a pair of righties. ... Petersen pitched 1ìinnings (53 pitches) and fanned 5, but was touched for 5 hits and 5 runs (only 1 earned). Relievers Arquimedes Caminero, Ramon Benjamin and Skyler Crawford collectively yielded just 4 hits and an earned run, while fanning 4, 3 and 2, respectively.
