By PAUL GOTHAM
Last summer Ernie Clement terrorized pitchers in the nation’s premier summer collegiate league. This year he is setting records at the professional level.
The Brighton High grad, who starred as a freshman on the 2015 University of Virginia national championship team, hit .353 as a member of the Harwich Mariners and earned Cape Cod League MVP honors in 2016. Last week, Clement established a franchise record as a member of the Mahoning Valley Scrappers (Class A-Short affiliate of the Cleveland Indians) with a 21-game hitting streak.
“It’s about working every day, not taking any days off,” Clement said recently by phone. “Baseball relies so much on consistency. The more consistent you can be, the more you’ll help your team win. That’s something I’ve really tried to improve on.”
Along the way he improved his batting average from.156 to .304 collecting 10 multi-hit games. When asked about his success, Clement pointed to that first collegiate season.
“My freshman year at Virginia one of my biggest problems was consistency. I learned a lot from those older guys and the coaching staff there. They really preach that. Being able to stay consistent is huge. That keeps guys in the lineup. It helps teams to be successful.”
True to form the nation’s most difficult batter to strike out, who fanned seven times this past spring or once every 36.3 at bats, has returned to the pine without putting a ball in play just seven times this summer. Five of those punch outs occurred in Clement’s first 12 professional games. He has struck out just twice in 19 games since, a span covering 78 at bats.
Clement will get another chance to play in front of familiar faces when Mahoning Valley (29-23 and good for second place in the NYPL’s Pinckney Division) returns to Batavia this Wednesday for a three-game set.
“I can’t wait. I’m going to get to go and see some family. Some friends are going to come to the games. It’s going to be really fun. Hopefully we can get a couple wins over there.”
With 23 games remaining on the regular schedule, the series will be the first of three the Scrappers play at Dwyer Stadium.
“It’s really cool. Normally I’d be heading home and getting ready for school. Instead I get to keep playing more baseball which is great. It’s really a dream come true.”
At the end of the season the play will continue when Clement heads west for fall instructional league.
“It’s going to be really cool to get to work in Arizona. I get to work in the off-season. Once spring training comes, it’s more baseball.”
Clement started his first 21 games as a freshman at UVA in centerfield before a hamstring injury sidelined him for seven games. He played in all 60 games as sophomore with 45 starts at second base and hitting leadoff the last 18 games of 2016. He was named third team All-ACC at shortstop this past spring and put together a career-best 17-game hitting streak for the Cavaliers.
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Cleveland selected Clement in the fourth round (132nd overall) of the 2017 MLB draft.
A 7:05 first pitch is scheduled Wednesday night.
Clement is one of eight former Section V athletes currently playing professional baseball at the minor league level including Chris Bostick (Aquinas), Cito Culver (Irondequoit), Logan Harasta (Webster Thomas), Grant Heyman (Pittsford Sutherland), Steven Klimek (Greece Arcadia), Danny Mendick (Pittsford Mendon) and Jonathan Schwind (Hilton).
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