web1_ttl041217track-3.jpg

Dallas boys and girls outlast Warriors win WVC track and field opener

web1_BLOTTER.jpg

POLICE BRIEFS

MOOSIC &#8212; By game&#8217;s end, Mark Payton&#8217;s impressive performance will likely go unnoticed.The Scranton/Wilkes-Barre RailRiders were derailed early and often by mistakes, both in the field and on the base path, en route to a 6-0 defeat at the hands of leadoff man Roman Quinn and Lehigh Valley IronPigs on Tuesday night. However, Payton was a bright spot.The left fielder was 3 for 4 at the plate, including a double, and made an impressive diving catch to end the fourth inning.&#8220;This is a kid that works very hard day in and day out, doesn&#8217;t matter if he&#8217;s in the lineup or not,&#8221; Scranton/Wilkes-Barre RailRiders manager Al Pedrique said. &#8220;I give him a lot of credit because he&#8217;s a true professional and I&#8217;m glad he got a chance to play tonight and had a couple hard hits and a broken-bat infield hit, but that&#8217;s him.&#8221;Starting his second game of the season, Payton wanted to make the most of his opportunity in the lineup.Batting sixth, Payton set up one of the RailRiders&#8217; best threats &#8212; runners on second and third with no outs in the fourth inning &#8212; but Scranton/Wilkes-Barre couldn&#8217;t cash in. Payton collected three of the RailRiders&#8217; seven hits.The 25-year-old&#8217;s catch that came in the top half of the same frame saved a run. Lehigh Valley second baseman Jesmuel Valentin was standing at second when Jorge Alfaro sent a liner to Payton. He did, however, miss a relay throw in the sixth inning, allowing an IronPig to score on the play.&#8220;Just trying to keep it simple and try to take advantage of the at-bats I get and put together quality at-bats and help the team win any way I can,&#8221; Payton said. &#8220;My player type, I have to move runners, I have to bunt guys, I have to put together quality at-bats to get my at-bats.&#8221;RailRiders starting pitcher Chad Green struggled in his first outing for Scranton/Wilkes-Barre this season.Replacing Jordan Montgomery in the starting rotation, Green went five innings and stuck out eight IronPigs, but allowed four runs &#8212; three earned &#8212; on seven hits and a walk. While Lehigh Valley had struggle connecting with Green&#8217;s pitches, when they did they were effective.Lehigh Valley left fielder Dylan Cozens knocked in Quinn &#8212; for his first of three scored runs &#8212; with a first-inning RBI single through the second-base hole, but the flood gates opened in a three-run third inning.Quinn got things going with a one-out single, and later advanced on a passed ball. A two-out RBI double to deep right field from IronPigs catcher Jorge Alfaro scored Quinn and then the catcher scored on the very next pitch &#8212; a RBI single from Cozens.&#8220;Overall, I feel good and I&#8217;ll just take what I did here and get ready for the next time out,&#8221; Green said. &#8220;I think watching the game last night, they were pretty aggressive last night too. So I knew (they were going to be aggressive) going in, I just didn&#8217;t execute some pitches when I had to.&#8221;After seeing Quinn reach base on an error by Scranton/Wilkes-Barre shortstop Ruben Tejada in the first inning, only to score three batters later, errors sunk the RailRiders again in the sixth.Fielding a double off of the bat of Quinn, Payton missed his cut-off man on the relay throw and the ball rolled all the way to the fence of the IronPigs&#8217; dugout and allowed Valentin, who was standing on first base after being hit by a pitch from Jason Gurka, to score. Quinn reached third on the play, and later scored on an RBI from IronPigs shortstop J.P. Crawford.Making matters worse &#8212; with momentum increasing for the RailRiders in the third inning &#8212; Scranton/Wilkes-Barre right fielder Clint Frazier overran first base and was thrown out on the relay throw as Mason Williams went to third.&#8220;We put ourselves in a big hole right from the beginning and that&#8217;s the last thing you want to do in this game,&#8221; Pedrique said. &#8220;Defensively, we didn&#8217;t play well.&#8221;Scranton/Wilkes-Barre loaded the bases to start the bottom of the ninth, thanks to back-to-back singles from Payton and Tejada and first baseman Ji-Man Choi getting hit by a pitch from Hoby Milner, but couldn&#8217;t do anything with it as third baseman Cito Culver struck out and catcher Wilkin Castillo grounded into a double play to end the game.The RailRiders will look to clean things up Wednesday, when they face the IronPigs for the third time in the four-game series. IronPigs 6, RailRiders 0IronPigs`AB`R`H`BIQuinn cf`5`3`3`0Crawford ss`5`0`1`1Alfaro c`5`1`3`1Cozens lf`5`1`2`2Hoskins 1b`4`0`1`0Williams rf`5`0`1`1Perkins dh`4`0`0`0Featherston 3b`5`0`1`0Valentin 2b`3`1`0`0Totals`41`6`12`5RailRiders`AB`R`H`BIWilliams dh`3`0`0`0Frazier rf`3`0`1`0Fowler cf`4`0`1`0Solano 2b`4`0`1`0Payton lf`4`0`3`0Tejada ss`3`0`1`0Choi 1b`3`0`0`0Culver 3b`3`0`0`0Castillo c`4`0`0`0Totals`31`0`7`0E: Tejada (2, fielding), Choi (1, fielding), Payton (1, throw). LOB: IronPigs 11, RailRiders 9. DP: IronPigs 1, RaiLRiders 0. 2B: Alfaro (1), Williams (1), Quinn (1), Payton (2).IronPigs`IP`H`R`ER`BB`SOEflin (W, 1-0)`5.0`0`0`3`4Venditte`2.0`0`0`0`1`3Milner`2.0`2`0`0`0`2RailRiders`IP`H`R`ER`BB`SOGreen (L, 0-1)`5.0`8`4`3`1`8Gurka`1.1`3`2`2`0`2Graham`1.2`2`0`0`0`2Gallegos`1.0`0`0`0`1`2WP: Eflin, ZachUmpires: Jeremie Rehak, HP; Adam Beck, 1; Ryan Additon, 3B.T: 2:51. Att: 3,679<style>
.neFileBlock {
	margin-bottom: 20px;
}
.neFileBlock p {
	margin: 0px 0px 0px 0px;
}
.neFileBlock .neFile {
	border-bottom: 1px dotted #aaa;
	padding-bottom: 5px;
	padding-top: 10px;
}
.neFileBlock .neCaption {
	font-size: 85%;
}
</style>
<div class='neFileBlock'>
<div class="neFile"><img class="neImage" src="https://www.timesleader.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/04/web1_SWB-logo2.jpg">
<div class="neCaption"></div></div><div class="metaInfo"><photo0>https://www.timesleader.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/04/web1_SWB-logo2.jpg</photo0><caption0></caption0><photoCredit0></photoCredit0></div></div>
<div class="metaInfo"><bylineMeta>By DJ Eberledjeberle@www.timesleader.com</bylineMeta></div><div class="metaInfo"><factboxMeta>VIDEOTo see highlights from the Scranton/Wilkes-Barre RailRiders&#8217; batting practice prior to their game against Lehigh Valley, visit the oline version of this story at timesleader.com.</factboxMeta></div><div class="metaInfo"><shirttailMeta>Reach DJ Eberle at 570-991-6398 or on Twitter @ByDJEberle</shirttailMeta></div><div class="metaInfo"><videoMeta><table style="border:none;width:98%;" class="mceItemTable"><tbody><tr><td style="font-weight:bold;font-size:100%;vertical-align:top;text-align:right;border:none;">VideoID:</td><td id="videoid" style="width:50em;font-size:90%;"> VrB2okhPwXM</td></tr><tr><td style="font-weight:bold;font-size:100%;vertical-align:top;text-align:right;border:none;">VideoType:</td><td id="videotype" style="font-size:90%;"> YOUTUBE</td></tr><tr><td style="font-weight:bold;font-size:100%;vertical-align:top;text-align:right;border:none;">URL:</td><td id="url" style="font-size:90%;"> https://youtu.be/VrB2okhPwXM</td></tr><tr><td style="font-weight:bold;font-size:100%;vertical-align:top;text-align:right;border:none;">Video Embed String:</td><td id="videoembedstring" style="font-size:90%;"> </td></tr><tr><td style="font-weight:bold;font-size:100%;vertical-align:top;text-align:right;border:none;">Video Caption:</td><td id="videocaption" style="font-size:90%;">Scranton/Wilkes-Barre RailRiders Mason Williams and Tyler Wade take batting practice ahead of a game against the Lehigh Valley IronPigs.</td></tr><tr><td style="font-weight:bold;font-size:100%;vertical-align:top;text-align:right;border:none;">Video Credit:</td><td id="videocredit" style="font-size:90%;"> DJ Eberle</td></tr><tr><td style="font-weight:bold;font-size:100%;vertical-align:top;text-align:right;border:none;">Video Position:</td><td id="videoposition" style="font-size:90%;"> </td></tr></tbody></table>(use the &#8220;for files&#8230;&#8221; link above to associate attached files with this source)</videoMeta></div>

Mistakes prove costly in SWB RailRiders’ loss to Lehigh Valley