Scrappers end year with loss

Mahoning Valley lost to the State College Spikes, 4-3, in its season finale.

By BILL ALBRIGHT

VINDICATOR CORRESPONDENT

UNIVERSITY PARK, Pa. — The Mahoning Valley Scrappers were hoping to finish the 2007 season in the same manner as they started it, with a win.

However, Friday night at Medlar Field at Lubrano Park, State College would have nothing to do with the plan as the Spikes won the final game of the season by a 4-3 score before a crowd of 3,794.

“We started out doing well, but then a couple of mistakes cost us,” said Scrappers interim manager Anthony Medrano. “After they took the lead, we just couldn’t catch up to them.”

The Spikes took a quick 1-0 lead in the first inning on a solo home run by Brian Friday, but the Scrappers clawed their way back to take a 3-1 lead with a pair of runs in the second before adding one more in the third.

In the second, Justin Jenkins doubled to deep center field and scored when Nick Petrucci bounced into a RBI fielder’s choice.

In the third, Adam White led off the inning with a triple into the right field corner and scored on a RBI single to right by Karexon Sanchez.

“We have been leaving a lot of guys on base so we tried to make some things happen with hit-and-runs and things like that,” said Medrano. “We just tried to mix things up and it was nice to see us bounce back to take the lead after they scored early.”

Spikes surge in fifth

The 3-1 lead stood up until the bottom of the fifth when the Spikes scored three runs to take a 4-3 lead. Big hits in the inning were RBI singles by Keanon Simon and Warren Harding product Justin Byler.

If the Scrappers had one big problem that plagued them all season long, it was the inability to score runs in bunches and once again that was the case with all three losses in the season-ending series.

“That hurt us all season long,” said Medrano. “We only had 19 home runs all season and if you have a couple of guys who can drive the ball out of the ball park, that makes a big difference.”

Mike Eisenberg started and took the loss for the Scrappers. The right-hander worked five innings, allowing four runs (3 earned) on five hits. He didn’t have a walk and struck out five.

After Eisenberg surrendered the leadoff home run to Brian Friday to lead off the game, he settled in to pitch three strong innings until the roof caved in on him in the fifth.

Spikes start hitting

Once he hit that batter and we made a couple of mistakes, they [State College] did a real good job of hitting him,” said Medrano. “They got a couple of solid line drives to right to drive in runs and that really hurt us.”

All things considered, Medrano felt that with the lack of experience that many of the Scrapper players faced, they showed signs of hopes in the future, whether it is next year or sometime later down the road.

“We had a lot of first-year guys and they had no idea of what they were getting themselves into,” said Medrano. “I think they learned a lot this year and if they work hard, they have a lot of experience now to take on to the next years.”

———

SCRAPPERSSTATE COLLEGE

abrhbiabrhbi

White cf4120Friday ss3211

Thompson ss4010Simon cf4131

Sanchez 3b3011Byler 1b4011

Jenkins rf4110Durham rf4000

Brown dh2010Spain dh2000

Petrucci 1b4100Ftzptrck ph-dh1010

Arnal lf4011Cavagnaro 2b4000

Valadez c4011Stillwagon c4000

Hehr 2b3000Perez 3b3110

Barksdale lf3000

Totals32373Totals32473

Scrappers021000000—3

State College10003000x—4

E—Sanchez (4), Jenkins (1), Valadez (2), Stillwagon (9). DP—State College 3. LOB—Scrappers 5, State College 7. 2B—Jenkins (11), Thompson (9), Fitzpatrick (6). 3B—White (5). HR—Friday (2). 2B—Sanchez (2), Simon (9).

IPHRERBBSO

Scrappers

Eisenberg L, 4-7554305

Brettl1 1-320012

Holt1 2-300001

State College

Suero363301

Tracy100001

Felix W, 2-1210011

Bishop200013

Simon S, 7110001

HBP—by Eisenberg (Friday), by Holt (Fitzpatrick), by Suero (Brown). Umpires—Home, Ross Nickel; Bases, Justin Sassaman. T—2:28. A—3,794.

HOW THEY SCORED

State College 1st — Brian Friday hit a solo home run to left field. Keanon Simon grounded out 4-3. Justin Byler grounded out 5-3. Miles Durham struck out looking. 1 run, 1 hit, 0 errors, 0 LOB

Scrappers 2nd — Justin Jenkins doubled to deep center field. Matt Brown was hit by a pitch. Nick Petrucci grounded into fielder’s choice, Brown forced out 6-4, Jenkins to third. Cristo Arnal singled to center, Jenkins scored, Petrucci to 2nd. Mike Valadez singled to right field, Petrucci scored, Arnal to 3rd. Jeff Hehr grounded into 6-4-3 double play. 2 runs, 3 hits, 0 errors, 1 LOB

Scrappers 3rd — White tripled to right field. Thompson struck out looking. Sanchez singled to right field, White scored. Jenkins grounded into fielder’s choice, Sanchez out 4-6. Brown grounded out 5-3. 1 run, 2 hits, 0 errors, 1 LOB

State College 5th — Stillwagon flew out to center field. Perez singled to right field, went to second on error (E-9). Barksdale grounded out 3U, Perez to 3rd. Friday hit by pitch. Simon singled to right field, Perez scored, Friday to 3rd. Byler singled to right, Friday scored, Simon to 2nd. With Durham batting, Simon stole 3rd and scored on a throwing error (E-2), Byler to second. Durham struck out swinging (2-3). 3 runs 3 hits, 2 errors, 1 LOB