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Scrappers’ bats lead to win over Spikes

State College allows five runs in third inning

Sentinel photo by MIKE GOSS
Sentinel photo by MIKE GOSS State College Spikes catcher Matthew Ellis unsuccessfully tries to tag out Mahoning Valley’s Bobby Sparling at a close play at the plate, in the Spikes 8-2 loss, on Tuesday, at Medlar Field at Lubrano Park in State College.

UNIVERSITY PARK — The Mahoning Valley Scrappers’ high-powered offense took a little bit to settle in, but once the Scrappers’ bats got rolling the Spikes had few answers as first-place Mahoning Valley rolled to an 8-2 victory over State College in the MLB Draft League at Medlar Field at Lubrano Park Tuesday night.

Mahoning Valley (15-8) plated five runs on six hits in the third inning as a pair of two-run singles by Branden Comia and Hayden Jones did most of the damage. Jason Hinchman added an RBI single in the inning for the fifth run and later unleashed a mammoth 415-foot, two-run homer to give the Scrappers an insurmountable lead.

State College’s night began to unravel after an error in the third inning negated what looked like a possible double play. The Scrappers made the most of the opportunity, using the big inning to put the Spikes (10-13) behind the 8-ball early.

Overall Spikes’ pitchers threw well and executed for most of the night, striking out 11 hitters, but the big inning was the turning point in the ball game.

“That seems to be the theme of the league,” Spikes’ manager Delwyn Young said of the big inning for the Scrappers. “If you look at the box scores of probably every game, I’d just assume that each game has offenses with at least 10 strikeouts. The pitchers are still doing their job, but it’s that one inning — regardless of the pitcher — where they have to figure out how to get out of it. We have to get better day by day on trying to establish three outs.”

Spikes’ starter Connor Oliver, who was added to the roster on June 15th, pitched effectively into the third, retiring six of the first seven batters he faced with three strikeouts before an error and multiple hits put the Scrappers ahead. Hinchman’s second home run of the season and 23rd RBI of the year put Mahoning Valley ahead for good.

“I thought (Oliver’s debut) was good,” Young said. “At some point it’s hard to really gauge his first outing, especially when there are hitters in there that are swinging. I didn’t think his misses were bad, they were competitive. In that inning he may have started to run out of gas and like all offenses, it’s a fight at the bat rack when some guys are missing just a little bit. He didn’t give up much hard contact but there wasn’t much our defense could do. Overall, I liked what I saw from him tonight.”

A sacrifice fly to left by Jarrod Belbin gave the Scrappers an 8-1 cushion. Spikes left fielder James Jett made a terrific throw to home plate that would have cut down Sparling by a mile at home, but Spikes’ catcher Matthew Ellis dropped the ball, allowing him to score.

The Spikes made some strong defensive plays including a stellar scoop by Marques Paige at first to preserve an out while a strong play at third base by Damiano Palmegiani nearly resulted in a double play in the third inning. The Spikes turned a smooth 6-4-3 double play in the ninth on a second scoop by Paige.

“That’s the one thing this team has been trying to work on, limiting the mistakes defensively so that the opposing team doesn’t take over the game,” Young said. “One error can lead to something else — you can’t give people a fourth out to play with. Sometimes it’s hard as a young player to slow the game down, and that’s what you’re watching in the league as a whole.”

The umpire crew had a lengthy discussion in the third inning that resulted in a Marques Paige ground-rule double to center field for the Spikes. Paige hit the ball deep toward the center field wall where the ball struck the warning track and cleared the fence, smacking off the batter’s eye.

In the fourth, Palmegiani hit a ball deep to left field that appeared to go over the wall and carom back into play. Instead, Palmegiani ended up at second with an RBI double. The Spikes added a second run in the sixth inning on a sacrifice fly by Ellis.

“I had it hitting the wall,” Young said. “Because of the noise and (Spikes hitting coach Jermaine Mitchell) and I walking out there, there’s no way it could hit the scoreboard and come back into play in my opinion. From my point of view, they called it fair.”

Oliver took the loss for the Spikes, going three innings in which he allowed five runs — two earned — on seven hits and one walk, while striking out five batters. Josh Culliver and Kiernan Higgins recorded scoreless innings in the eighth and ninth innings, respectively for the Spikes.

The Spikes had six hits on the night with Hylan Hill leading the way, going 2-for-4 while scoring both runs for State College. The Scrappers had 11 hits with Comia, Sparling and Hinchman each having two hits.

Cole Ayers picked up the victory for Mahoning Valley, giving up one run on three hits while striking out five. Garrett Schoenle threw two scoreless innings in relief and Aaron Haase threw a scoreless ninth for the Scrappers.

UP NEXT

The Spikes host Mahoning Valley for the second game of a three-game series at Medlar Field at Lubrano Park beginning at 6:35 p.m.

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