Long bus ride does players good

By Joe Scalzo

Mahoning Valley third baseman Jeremie Tice is fourth in the New York-Penn League with a .351 average.

After a grueling start to the season, the Mahoning Valley Scrappers got a rare break on Tuesday.

Sort of.

The Scrappers (12-15) celebrated their second day off with their longest bus ride of the season, a 600-mile trek to Lowell, Mass., a city 35 miles northwest of Boston.

“It’ll be a good day off,” said Scrappers manager Travis Fryman following Monday’s 12-3 win over Hudson Valley at Eastwood Field. “Days off are always better when they come after a win. Always.”

The win over Hudson Valley was nice. The way it happened was nicer as the Scrappers amassed 17 hits, including seven during a seven-run eighth inning, to pull away.

After failing to reach double digits in runs through the first 25 games, the Scrappers did it on back-to-back nights, blasting the Renegades 13-2 in a seven-inning game on Sunday.

“We had six games here [on the homestand] and I think we had our four best offensive games here all year long,” Fryman said. “To me, that’s very encouraging. Runs are something that have not come easily for us.”

Third baseman Jeremie Tice, the Indians’ sixth-round pick out of the College of Charleston, is fourth in the New York-Penn League with a .351 average, including a terrific .986 OPS (on base percentage plus slugging).

Outfielder Brock Simpson is 11th in the league with a .338 average.

Mahoning Valley is fifth in the 14-team league in batting average with a .255 mark.

“Maybe we’ve turned a corner,” Fryman said. “I hope so. We’ve gotten a glimpse of what we’re capable of. That’s exciting.”

The Scrappers are ninth in the league in ERA (3.83).

Reliever Mark Rodrigues has been terrific, compiling a 0.61 ERA in 14 2/3 innings. Starter P.J. Zocchi has been the biggest workhorse so far, going 2-1 with a 4.55 ERA in a team-high 27 2/3 innings.

“Our starting pitching has been pretty solid, it really has,” Fryman said. “It’s kept us in ballgames. We’ve been behind a good bit, but again, they’ve kept us in games and put ourselves in positions to win.

“Overall, I’m pretty pleased with our starting pitching. We’re seeing signs of improvement there, too.”

Still, through one-third of the season, the Scrappers have looked like a pretty average team. Mahoning Valley is 7-8 at home, 5-7 on the road and has hovered around the .500 mark for most of the season.

The Scrappers started the season playing 21 straight days and 27 of 28.

But while the majors and the minors took a break for the annual MLB All-Star game on Tuesday, Fryman wasn’t planning to use the night off as a special chance to assess his team.

“We [the coaches] reflect every night, we really do,” he said. “We’re constantly examining the club and we call in reports nightly. So [Tuesday] we’re just going to enjoy the day off. We’ve got a long trip to Lowell and some of the guys have played a lot this year, so a lot of them got days off [on Monday].

“Getting back-to-back days of rest is a real plus.”

scalzo@vindy.com