First is worst: M.V. hurt by lousy inning

The Scrappers fell 3-1 to State College in their final series of the season.

By BILL ALBRIGHT

VINDICATOR CORRESPONDENT

UNIVERSITY PARK — One big mistake.

That is all it took as the State College Spikes downed the Mahoning Valley Scrappers 3-1 Wednesday night before 4,458 fans at Medlar Field at Lubrano Park

The Spikes jumped all over Scrapper starter Kelvin De La Cruz for three runs in the first inning.

The big blows were a two-run home run by Andrew Walker and a RBI double by Keanon Simon.

“The teams have been jumping on our pitching early the past couple of days, and when that happens, it seems as though we just can’t catch up,” said Scrappers manager Anthony Medrano. “His [De La Cruz’s] last couple of starts has just been like that. He seems to have a little trouble in the first inning, then he turns on a switch.

“I don’t know if he gets mad or what, but when it happens, he just clicks in a whole different gear.”

After surrendering the home run ball to Walker, De La Cruz settled in and turned in five strong innings to keep the Spikes off the board.

“After that first inning, he [De La Cruz] just cruised,” said Medrano. “He just seems to have a little trouble getting past the first inning.

“A little popup and some missed communication hurt him. If they catch that ball in the outfield, maybe it is a different story.”

Had their chances

The Scrappers had their chances to break through in the first five innings, but the inability to get the big hit at the crucial time kept them off the board.

The inability to come up with the big hit at the right time hurt the Scrappers as they stranded a dozen runners on the basepaths, eight in scoring position.

“We had a lot of guys on third [base] with less than two outs and just couldn’t get the guy in,” said Medrano. “You aren’t going to win ball games if you can’t score runs. In those situations, all you have to do is put the ball in play and you have a chance to score a run, but we didn’t do that today.

After failing to score through five innings, the Scrappers took advantage of some shoddy play by the Spikes to score their first run when Adam White led off with a triple to right field and scored on a throwing error by Spike catcher Andrew Walker.

With the loss, De La Cruz falls to 2-4, while picking up the win for State College was Matt Foust (4-2).

Adam Simon picked up the save for the Spikes, his sixth of the season.

The same two teams will continue the three-game series tonight at 7:05 p.m.

The Scrappers will send “pitcher by committee” to the mound, while the Spikes will counter with Brandon Williams (1-2, 2.61).

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SCRAPPERSSTATE COLLEGE

abrhbiabrhbi

White cf5110Friday ss4120

Thompson ss3000Cavagnaro 2b4000

Sanchez 3b4010Byler 1b4010

Nash 1b4000Walker c4112

Jenkins dh4000Fitzpatrick dh1100

Montero rf4010Simon cf3011

Valadez c3000Durham rf3000

Arnal lf3020Davis lf3000

Hehr 2b4010Perez 3b3010

Totals34160Totals29363

Scrappers000000100—1

State College30000000x—3

E—Perez (20), Simon (2), Walker (3), Cameron (1). DP—Scrappers 1. LOB—Scrappers 12, State College 4. 2B—Sanchez (2), Friday (10), Simon (14). 3B—White (4). HR—Walker (2). SB—Thompson (11). CS—Perez (7).

IPHRERBBSO

Scrappers

De La Cruz L, 2-4643328

Cawiezell220003

State College

Martinez210032

Foust W, 3-6430022

Cameron211011

Simon S, 6110002

WP—Cawiezell, Martinez. Umpires—Home, Ross Nickel; Bases, Justin Sassman. T—2:32. A—4,458.

HOW THEY SCORED

SPIKES 1ST — Brian Friday — bloop double to right field; Matt Cavagnaro — struck out swinging; Justin Byler — grounded out shortstop to first, Friday to third; Andrew Walker — homered to left-center field, Friday scoring; John Fitzpatrick — walked; Keanon Simon — doubled to right field, Fitzpatrick scoring; Miles Durham — popped out to second baseman. 3 runs, 3 runs, 1 LOB.

SCRAPPERS 7TH — Pitching Change: Taylor Camerer replaces Matt Foust: White — tripled to right field; Thompson — grounded out third to first; Sanchez — struck out, reached second base on a throwing error by catcher, White scoring; With Nash at the plate, Sanchez, moved to third on a throwing error by the pitcher; Nash — grounded out third to first; Jenkins — grounded out third to first. 1 run, 1 hit, 1 LOB.