Ignoffo Chasing Triple Crown

By James Biggam
THE RUTLAND HERALD
Upper Valley’s Ryan Ignoffo is showcasing his cat-like reflexes during the dog days of summer, treating New England Collegiate Baseball League fans to a spectacular show on a daily basis.

With three weeks left in the regular season, the 5-foot-10, 208-pound infielder is on track to make a serious run at the Triple Crown. Opposing players and coaches have been awestruck while scratching their heads and wondering one thing: Is there anything the Nighthawks slugger can’t do?

Ignoffo leads the league with nine home runs ahead of Newport’s Colton Ledbetter (eight), Keene’s Jackson Ross (seven) and Ocean State’s Khyree Miller (five). His 40 RBIs have also set a high bar. Ross and Ledbetter has 29 and Ledbetter has 28. Ignoffo is fourth in batting (.400), making the elusive Triple Crown a very real possibility.

The right-handed batter has played in 26 of his team’s 29 games, scoring 21 runs and reaching base 14 times on walks. He’s connected for nine doubles and one triple while recording a team-high 13 stolen bases. The jack-of-all-trades has also pitched in four games. He made his debut on the mound at North Shore, striking out five batters over two innings and allowing zero hits.

Upper Valley trails the Vermont Mountaineers (24-4) by 10.5 games in the North Division standings and it would take a Herculean effort for the Nighthawks to overtake the front-runners.

A two-time Player of the Week selection, Ignoffo been the picture of durability throughout a season without many breaks. Two years ago he missed over half of his freshman season at Eastern Illinois University due to a leg injury, but he’s steadily returned to full strength. He made 10 appearances as a position player and 10 as a pitcher his sophomore season for the Panthers. Last spring he hit .395 with 16 home runs and 58 RBIs in NCAA action.

This summer he’s benefited from a quality supporting cast that includes second baseman Max Grant and center fielder Tyler Sorrentino. Grant is hitting .310 with 10 doubles, 18 RBIs and 22 runs scored. Sorrentino (.280) is third on the team in batting and boasts eight doubles, 26 runs scored and 11 RBIs. Upper Valley will host the Mountaineers at 6 p.m. Thursday before visiting Montpelier Recreation Field for the final game of the Governor’s Cup Series on July 27.

There is a lot of baseball yet to be played, but right now Ignoffo doesn’t want to tinker with anything. He’s determined to keep his hot streak going while making sure his Triple Crown bid leads to victories for the team. MLB stars Rogers Hornsby and Ted Williams each won the Triple Crown twice, while Mickey Mantle (1956), Frank Robinson (1966), Carl Yastrzemski (1967) and Miguel Cabrera (2012) were the most recent members of the exclusive club.

Here are an assortment of questions for the Nighthawks standout with less than two weeks before the NECBL All-Star Game.

TA: What would you say about the transition here to the NECBL?

Ignoffo: “This is my first time out in the NECBL. Last year I was in the Northwoods. And my freshman summer I was out in the Prospect League with the Quincy Gems. This is definitely a change of scenery from Illinois, where I’m initially from.”

TA: How would you describe the Vermont vibe so far after living here for a month?

Ignoffo: “It’s pretty cool and there’s a lot of hills up here. The park we play at kind of makes it feel like my park at school and it makes me feel at home, so it’s a little easier of a transition than the Northwoods was.”

TA: For a lot of guys, it takes a week or two to switch to the wooden bats. You’re hitting over .400, so was that an issue for you?

Ignoffo: “The first couple games was my transition to wood bats. I didn’t hit very well, but I was just missing things. I just had to battle through that and take it one day at a time and one at-bat at a time and try to just get pitches I can hit.”

TA: In terms of your teammates, did you guys gel pretty quickly with chemistry and everything?

Ignoffo: “Yeah, for sure. We have a pretty good group of guys here who have a lot of talent and are going to go places in their baseball career. It’s good for me to have guys in front of me like Tyler Sorrentino and Max Grant, where they’re on base all the time and it makes my job easy. I just have to put the ball in play to get some RBIs.”

TA: What are your thoughts about trying to go for the Triple Crown?

Ignoffo: “It’s obviously in the back of my mind. It would be cool to win that, because not a lot of people get the opportunity or even come close to it. It wasn’t a thing that I was thinking about coming into the NECBL, because I knew it was going to be a very good league. But now that I’m out here, I’m close to it. And I might as well just try to grab it.”

TA: Does it feel like pitchers are just trying to pitch around you at this point in the season?

Ignoffo: “Even at school, I didn’t have many walks — I think I had around 14 all season. And I like to see that. Because although people see my stats and know I can do damage, guys are going out there and competing and throwing me pitches that are competitive. I like when guys can go out there and try to blow their best stuff by me.”

TA: Does it feel like it’s pretty rare to be hitting over. 400 with so many home runs and stolen bases?

Ignoffo: “Definitely. I look at the stats of big-leaguers and some of those guys have. And Shohei Ohtani, that guy is doing everything. I’m not quite on that level. But I can pitch a little bit, I can run, I can hit and I can throw. I just try to be the best that I can be and be the best teammate possible.”

TA: Do you think there’s some benefit to having so many games in a short period and just being in the same routine every day basically?

Ignoffo: “Sometimes it’s hard to keep the body as healthy as possible and trying not to give in to being tired. You only play the first game of the season at 100% or 90%. That’s what our coach at school says: ‘You might be 100% for that first game, and every day after that you might be only at 70%.’ So it’s just trying to fight through it with half a gas tank.”

TA: The Mountaineers have just been crushing it this season. How imposing are they right now?

Ignoffo: “Vermont has a good group of guys over there and they’re pretty close-knit from what it looks like. They have a bunch of pitchers who go out there and they compete. And that’s all you can really ask out of any of them. They all have good stuff. And when it comes to the hitting side of things, they have guys who grind through at-bats and put the bat on the ball. As far as energy, those guys probably have the most high-energy team in the league. And that shows with the record being as good as it is.”

TA: Do you guys feel like you’re in a position to make a pretty good run at the post-season?

Ignoffo: “I definitely think we can make a good run to make the playoffs. We’ve got the guys to do it and it’s whether or not we can put it into fruition.”