NILES, Ohio – In a back-and-forth battle on Saturday night at Eastwood Field, the State College Spikes took the lead in the eighth inning on Jaden Collura’s RBI ground-rule double and a balk, only to see the Mahoning Valley Scrappers tie the game, then win on a third-strike wild pitch in the ninth, 6-5.

In a game that featured four lead changes, the Spikes (11-18 2nd Half) took a 3-1 lead behind Adam Paniagua’s RBI groundout in the second, Cole Caruso’s two-out RBI double in the third, and Adonis Forte’s run-scoring single in the fifth.

However, Mahoning Valley (11-19 2nd Half) answered with three runs in the fifth. Dreylin Holmes delivered a two-out, two-run single to left-center field to tie the game before an error allowed him to score with the go-ahead run.

In the eighth, Dan Tauken led off for the Spikes with an infield single on a high chopper to second base. After Chenar Brown pinch-ran and advanced to second on a groundout, Collura’s double to left-center field one-hopped the wall to bring in Brown and tie the game.

Collura then advanced to third base on a flyout and was sent home after pitcher Clayton Boroski feinted a throw to second base, which was unoccupied, and was called for a balk.

The Scrappers tied the game again when Theo Bryant scored from second on an error on an attempted double-play ball in the eighth. In the ninth, the Spikes nearly took the lead again on T.J. Salvaggio’s single to left, but Conor Higgs was thrown out at the plate on a throw from left fielder Chase Nixon to catcher Matt Rivera.

Carson Hornung then singled with one out in the bottom of the ninth, advanced to third on Tommy Rover’s double off the short wall in right field and scored when the third strike to Rivera went wild.

Salvaggio and Trotter Boston each produced multiple hits for the Spikes, with Salvaggio raising his batting average to .303 just 20 days after it was stuck at .087.

Mahoning Valley reliever Nathan Shane (1-1) picked up the win, while Jeff Heinrich (0-1) took the loss.