MV win good, but no playoff

The Scrappers defeated State College, 7-4.

By GREG GULAS

VINDICATOR CORRESPONDENT

NILES — The Mahoning Valley Scrappers entered their final homestand of the season with one goal in mind — to play well with the hopes of remaining alive and in contention for a play-off berth.

Saturday, Chris Nash had four RBIs and four Scrapper pitchers combined to scatter 12 State College hits as Mahoning Valley topped the Spikes, 7-4 at Eastwood Field.

But the win became a fading memory, however, with news that the Auburn Doubledays and Staten Island Yankees both won, thus eliminating the Scrappers from the postseason.

Nail in coffin

The Doubledays defeated Jamestown, 7-2, while the Yankees topped Brooklyn, 4-2. That marks the sixth consecutive year that Auburn has won the division and the fifth time in six years that they and the Scrappers will have finished one-two in the Pinckney Division.

“I thought our guys did an excellent job tonight,” Scrappers manager Tim Laker said. “They came out swinging, got a lot of hits and scored a lot of runs. 

“The bullpen did a nice job; [Garrett] Rieck came in and got a couple of guys on, but the double play got him out of trouble,” Laker said.

“Vinnie [Pestano] then did a nice job in the ninth inning to close it out for us,” Laker said.

Nash, an eight-day Scrappers veteran who was promoted from the Gulf Coast League Indians, was pleased with his performance. 

“It feels great to get back in the groove at the plate,” Nash said. “It hasn’t been too much of an adjustment for me, however, I just want to remain focused and continue to help us win.”

The Spikes wasted no time in getting on the board after Matt Cavagnaro’s solo home run in the top of the first, his fourth of the season.

The Scrappers took the lead in their half of the first when Nash’s double found the gap in left, plating both Mark Thompson and Jansy Infante for a 2-1 advantage.

Short-lived lead

Mahoning Valley’s lead was short lived as State College came right back in their half of the second, knotting the game at 2-all on the strength of Austin McClune’s broken bat grounder which enabled John Fizpatrick to score the tying run.

The score remained that way until the Spikes’ fifth when Brian Friday and Cavagnaro led off the inning with back to back singles. The former scored the go-ahead run on Keanon Simon’s fielder’s choice and the latter made it 4-2 when Warren Harding graduate Justin Byler bounced into a double play.

Byler, who entered the game batting .438 against Scrappers pitching, went 2 for 5 in the game with a double.

In the bottom of the inning, a single by Infante plated Nick Petrucci to cut the Spikes’ lead to 4-3. When Nash added a sacrifice fly that scored Thompson, the game was knotted at 4-all.

Karexon Sanchez followed with a run scoring single, plating Infante with two outs for a 5-4 Scrappers lead.

Mahoning Valley added to their lead in the seventh when Infante walked to open the inning, scoring when Nash followed with his second extra base hit, a triple, and fourth RBI of the game for a 6-4 lead.

Eighth inning

State College added three singles in their half of the eighth, but failed to score as McClune was caught stealing, then had Friday and Cavagnaro stranded when Simon struck out to end the inning.

The Scrappers added an insurance run in the eighth when Petrucci led off with a single, later scoring on Thompson’s third single of the game two batters later.

Garry Campfield, the first Mahoning Valley reliever who came in for starter Dan Frega, pitched an inning and a third for the win, his first of the season and the first of his professional career. Pestano picked up his sixth save with a perfect ninth inning.

XBecause of a computer malfunction, the weekly Scrappers and New York-Penn League baseball statistics have been delayed until Monday’s edition.

STATE CSCRAPPERS

abrhbiabrhbi

Friday ss4120White cf5010

Cavagnaro 2b5231Thompson ss4231

Simon cf4001Infante 3b3311

Byler 1b5020Nash 1b4024

Walker c5010Sanchez 2b3011

Fitzpatrick dh4110Brown rf5000

Spain 3b1010Jenkins dh4030

Durham ph1000Valadez c4000

Perez 3b0000CPetrucci lf4220

Davis lf4000

McClune rf4021

Totals374123Totals367137

State College110020000—4

Scrappers11000000x—2

E—Williams (1), Spain (17), Cavagnaro (10, Perez (19), Nash (4), Thompson (16). DP—State College 1, Scrappers 2. LOB—State College 11, Scrappers 11. 2B—Spain (10), Byler (18), Nash (4). 3B—Nash (1). HR—Cavagnaro (4). SB—Thompson (10), Sanchez (1). CS—White (8).

IPHRERBBSO

State College

Williams L, 1-261025212

Felix232234

Scrappers

Frerga4 2-374333

Campfield W, 1-01 1-310010

Rieck H, 3240002

Pestano S, 6100002

WP—Williams, Felix, Frega 2. HBP—by Williams (Thompson), by Campfield (Friday). Umpires—Home, Harry Oschip; Bases, Keith Rogowski. T—3:00. A—2,316.