Finally no rain, Scrappers win, 6-1

By Pete Mollica

Russell Young pitched one-hit ball and struck out eight for five innings .

NILES — A night without rain at Eastwood Field produced some great pitching and timely hitting, and the Mahoning Valley Scrappers snapped a two-game losing streak with a 6-1 victory over the Auburn Doubledays before 2,506 fans in a New York-Penn League contest.

It was the Scrappers’ first game at Eastwood Field that didn’t have some sort of rainfall and it was made for Mahoning Valley’s starting pitcher Russell Young.

Young, the rookie out of Dartmouth College, pitched one-hit ball for five innings against the Doubledays, who came into the game leading the NYPL in hitting. He struck out eight and walked just one and retired the first 13 batters he faced.

“In the game of baseball it’s a lot easier to win when you get good pitching,” said Scrappers first-year manager Travis Fryman. “We hit the ball a little better and ran the bases well tonight.”

The Scrappers (7-8) got out to a quick 4-0 lead scoring once in the second and three times in the third and Young and his relievers didn’t need any more.

Auburn only managed five hits and three of them came in the ninth inning when the Doubledays loaded the bases on closer Daniel Morales, but the big right-hander in his second year with the Scrappers managed to pitch out of the jam by striking out the final two batters.

“I thought Russell did a great job of getting ahead of the hitters and keeping the ball down and when you do that I don’t care what league you’re in you are going to do well,” said Fryman.

“We’ve lost a couple of close games and we needed a lift and he helped us get that tonight.”

Young felt his control was the difference.

“I was able to stay ahead of the hitters tonight, keep my pitch count down and that enabled me to go deeper into the game,” Young said.

“It was a definite confidence builder for me and it was exciting because we were coming off a couple of close losses and it was a big pick-up for the whole team,” he said.

The Scrappers finished with eight hits, but none after the fourth inning.

They scored first in the second when Walter Diaz doubled off the wall in left field to score Doug Pickens, then broke loose for three runs in the third on four hits, one a double by Isaias Velasquez, and RBI singles by Jeremy Tice and Donnie Webb and a couple of Auburn errors.

The Doubledays committed five errors on the night.

Mahoning Valley added a single run in the fourth on Velasquez’s second double of the game and a couple of walks. Auburn pitching allowed seven walks, including four in the eighth inning that produced the Scrappers’ final run of the contest.

Auburn’s only run came in the fifth inning after Young had retired them in order for the first four. With one out Young walked Brian Van Kirk and Jon Del Campo followed with the Doubledays’ first hit, a bloop to right field. With two outs the Doubledays scored on an error by Scrappers second baseman Velasquez.

Velasquez and Tice each finished with two hits for the Scrappers, while Del Campo had two of the five hits for the Doubledays.

Mahoning Valley begins a six-game road trip tonight at Staten Island in a 7:05 contest. They will also play three games at Brooklyn before returning home July 9 to take on the Vermont Lake Monsters.

mollica@vindy.com

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AUBURNSCRAPPERS

abrhbiabrhbi

Nicolas rf3000Valdes rf3110

Hopkins cf4010Velasquez 2b5121

Cooper 1b4010Chisenhall dh3110

Amar dh4010Tice 3b4122

VanKirk lf3100Pickens c5100

DelCompo 2b4020Webb cf4011

Soto 3b4000Diaz ss4011

Condotta ss3000Alcmbrck 1b2100

House c2000Armstrong lf3000

Vasquez pr0000Kervin ph1000Turkamani c1010

Totals33150Totals33685

Auburn000010000—1

Scrappers013100010—6

E—Del Campo (4), Van Kirk (1), Hopkins (1), Soto 2 (5), Velasquez (3); DP—Auburn 1; LOB—Auburn 7, Scrappers 11; 2B—Diaz (1), Velasquez 2 (6); SB—Chisenhall (2), Valdes (1).

IPHRERBBSO

Auburn

Perez L,0-23 1-385521

Huggins1 2-300013

Walter2 2-301134

Leffler1-300010

Scrappers

Young W, 1-0511018

Arias100011

Rieck210002

Morales130002

WP—Perez, Huggins; HBP—By Perez (Alcombrack); Balk—Arias; Umpires—Home, Luke Hamelton, Bases, Chris Graham; T—2:43. A—2,506.

HOW THEY SCORED

Scrappers 2nd — Jeremy Ticee singled to left. Doug Pickens grounds into force out, Tice out at second, Pickets reaches second on throwing error by second baseman. Donnie Webb grounds out to short. Walter Diaz doubles off left field wall, Pickens scores. Robbi Alcombrack is hit by a pitch. Corteze Armstrong walks, Diaz to third, Alcombrack to second. Juan Valdes flies out to left field. 1 run, 2 hits, 1 error, 3 LOB.

Scrappers 3rd — Isaias Velasquez1doubles down left field line, Lonnie Chisenhall singles to left, Velasquez to third, Chisenhall to second on error by third baseman on throw. Tice singles to center, Velasquez scores, Chisenhall to thid, Tice to second on throw home. Pickens grounds out to third. Webb singles to righjt, Chisenhall scores, Tice to third, Webb to second on throw home. With Diaz batting, Tice scores on wild pitch. Diaz grounds out to short. Alcombrack strikes out. 3 runs, 4 hits, 2 errors, 1 LOB

Scrappers 4th — Valdes walks. Vaaldes steals second bas. Velasquez doubles off left field wall, Valdes scores. Velasquez to third on wild pitch. Chisenhall walks. Tice strikes out. Chisenhall steals second base. Pickens strikes out. 1 run, 1 hit, 0 errors, 2 LOB.

Auburn 5th — Adam Amar grounds out to pitcher. Brian Van Kirk walks. Jon Del Campo singles to right, Van Kirk to second. Leanc Soto grounds out to pitcher. Steve Condotta reaches on error by second baseman, Van Kirk scores. Chris House grounds out to first. 1 run, 1 hit, 1 error, 2 LOB.

Scrappers 8th — Alcombrack walks, Armstrong strikes out. Valdes walks, Alcombrack to second. Velasquez flies out to right. Chisenhall walks, Alcombrack to third, Valdes to second. Tice walks, Alcombrack scores, Valdes to third, Chisenhall to second. Pickens pops out to first. 1 run, 0 hits, 0 errors, 3 LOB.