Kernels' Mitchell is D-III baseball poster boy

CEDAR RAPIDS - He comes from the road less traveled in professional baseball. The road barely traveled.

“It's a hard road,” Gary Mitchell said after his three-run home run in the bottom of the eighth inning Monday afternoon helped lift the Cedar Rapids Kernels to a 5-4 win over Peoria before 3,392 fans at Veterans Memorial Stadium. “You just work hard, though. That's all I can really do. The Angels are giving me a shot. I've just got to take it.”

Mitchell is one of the rare minor leaguers from a Division III college: Neumann University, just outside of Philadelphia. Drafted in the 21st

round in 2010, the strapping 6-foot-4 left-handed hitter's batting average is hovering around .250, with his homer Monday his fifth this season.

“You can't be any more proud of a kid than when they go out there and you see the adjustments they are making,” said Kernels Manager Jamie Burke. “And the improvements. That was good.”

Burke said the Kernels coaching staff has been working with Mitchell on loosening up at the plate. He was plenty loose on his winner, turning on an inside fastball from Peoria relief pitcher Larry Suarez (0-1) and hitting a bullet down the right-field line.

“I've been using too much of my body to swing,” Mitchell said. “They're trying to get me to use my hands more. Trust my hands.”

Peoria (20-25) scored two unearned runs in the ninth, but Kernels closer Ty Kelley got Wes Darvill to line to short with two runners on to end it. The Cedar Rapids bullpen didn't give up an earned run in seven innings, forced into extended work after starter Michael Clevinger left one batter into the third.

The Kernels' most consistent starter, Clevinger said he felt a sharp pain in his right elbow after throwing a curve. An initial X-ray was clean but he is scheduled to have an MRI today.

“I'm nervous,” Clevinger said. “It was kind of too sore to really point out (one) spot to the doctor. He knows I didn't tear anything all the way, which means it's either a slight tear or a strain. Othwerwise I might have pulled a muscle or something."

Here is a copy of the game boxscore:

Scoreboard _ Midwest League Scoreboard