Wednesday, July 30, 2008
The Scrappers had 14 hits in the 14-2 victory over State College.
STATE COLLEGE, Pa. — Happy Valley proved to be a very happy place for the Mahoning Valley Scrappers Tuesday night.
After being held scoreless through the first five innings, the Scrappers exploded for 14 runs in the final four innings as they humbled the State College Spikes, 14-2, in a New York-Penn League game.
Not only did the Scrappers score a season-best 14 runs, their 17 hits tied a season high.
“We knew coming here that State College has had a very difficult year,” said Scrappers manager Travis Fryman. “We were coming off a bad stretch and the way we finished that doubleheader against Jamestown, we felt that we needed to come here, have a good series and get our confidence back a little bit. They played very well.”
Scrappers starting pitcher Russell Young only had one glitch in his first five innings.
In the second, Young hit Calvin Anderson and gave up back-to-back hits by Butch Biela and Quincy Latimore. Young was charged with a second run, unearned, in the sixth inning.
“I thought he [Young] showed a remarkable amount of composure for a young pitcher,” said Fryman. “For about those four innings, the game hung in the balance. They had a lot of opportunities, but he made a lot of quality pitches. Even though we scored 14 runs, I feel he was the MVP of that ball game.”
State College’s 1-0 lead held up until the sixth when the Scrappers took advantage of several Spikes mistakes and four hits to score four runs. Big hits in the inning for the Scrappers were singles by Corteze Armstrong and Isaias Velasquez and a three-run, no-doubt-about-it home run by Brock Simpson.
Leading 4-2 the Scrappers put the game away in the eighth inning when they scored eight runs.
“We want out guys not to give up their at-bats,” said Fryman. “It is my job as a manager that if a game gets out of control I can control the runners, but as a hitter, we do not want them to give up at-bats. We want a quality at-bat from each of the guys every time they go up there regardless of the situation and they are learning to do that.”
The biggest hit of the night came from Jeremie Tice as he belted a long home run over the center field fence on a ball that traveled an estimated 430 feet.
Others coming through with big hits in the uprising were Lonnie Chisenhall and Zach Booker, each with a two-run single, and Simpson with a RBI single
While Tice and Simpson had the biggest individual hits, Donnie Webb led the offense as he reached base all five times he batted, collecting four hits while scoring a pair of runs.
“That was by far my best game of this year,” said Webb. “It was see the ball, hit the ball and I have been working on my swing a lot in the [batting] cages and it all paid off for me tonight.”
The teams will conclude the three-game series today at noon. The Scrappers will send P.J. Zocchi (2-2,) to the mound, while the Spikes will counter with Brian Leach (1-0).
———
SCRAPPERSSTATE COLLEGE
abrhbiabrhbi
Armstrong lf5111Rice 2b3000
Velasquez 2b6131Payne 3b3010
Chisenhall ss6112Farrell 1b4100
Tice 3b5323Anderson dh3100
Simpson dh5224Biela rf4020
Alcombrack c3010Latimore lf4011
Blair rf3110Vasquez ss4010
Booker 1b4112Rubenstein cf4010
Webb cf5240Carver c2000
Valadez c1210
Totals43141713Totals31261
Scrappers000004082—14
State College010001000—2
E—Blair (4), Vasquez (4), Latimore 1 (4); DP—Scrappers 2, State College 1; LOB—Scrappers 7, State College 6; 2B—Alcombrack (4), Tice (8), Valadez (2), Latimore (7); HR—Simpson (2), Tice (4); S—Blair; SB—Vasquez (3).
IPHRERBBSO
Scrappers
Young W, 2-25 2-362116
McGuire2 1-300023
Arias100003
State College
Guerrero L, 1-45 2-364012
Knotts1-300000
Colla133322
Broisma145510
Ponder142100
HBP—by Young (Anderson); Balk: Guerrero; Umpires—Home, Aaron Larson; Bases, Jose Esteras; T—2:41; A—3,523.
HOW THEY SCORED
State College 2nd — Calvin Anderson was hit by a pitch and Butch Biela followed with a line single to right, Anderson advancing to second. Quincy Latimore doubled just inside the left field line, Anderson scoring and Biela moving to third. Andy Vasquez struck out swinging. David Rubinstein struck out swinging. Mark Carver struck out swinging. 1 run, 2 hits, 0 errors, 2 LOB
Scrappers 6th — Donnie Webb reached on an error. Corteze Armstrong reached on a bunt single, Webb moving to second. Webb moved to third and Armstrong to second on a balk. Velasquez singled to deep second base, Webb scoring, Armstrong moving to third. Chisenhall out on a sacrifice bunt, Velasquez to second. Tice reached on a fielder’s choice, Armstrong thrown out pitcher to third baseman. Brock Simpson hit home run to right field, Tice and Velasquez both scoring. Robert Alcombrack doubled to right field. Pitching change for Spikes. Alan Knotts replaced Emilis Guerrero. Ryan Blair lined out to left field. 4 runs, 4 hits, 1 error, 1 LOB
State College 6th — Matt Payne walked and was forced out second to shortstop when Jeremy Farrell bounced into a fielder’s choice. Calvin Anderson struck out swinging. Butch Biela singled to right field, Farrell scoring and Biela moving to third on an error by right fielder Ryan Blair. Pitching Change for Mahoning Valley: Mike McGuire replaces Young. Defensive Change for Scrappers: Mike Valadez replaces Alcombrack. Quincy Latimore grounded out, pitcher to first. 1 run, 1 hit, 1 error, 1 LOB
Scrappers 8th — Tice doubled and went to third base on an error by Quincy Latimore. Simpson singled up the middle, Tice scoring. Michael Valadez walked, Simpson to second. Pitching change for State College: Owen Brolsma replaces Colla. Blair out on sacrifice bunt pitcher to second baseman, Simpson to third and Valadez to second. Booker singled to left field, Simpson and Valadez scoring. Webb singled to right field, Booker to second. Armstrong walked, Booker to third, Webb to second. Isaias Velasquez fouled out to third. Chisenhall singled to right, Booker scoring, Webb scoring, Armstrong to third. Tice hit a home run to straightaway center, Armstrong and Chisenhall scoring. Simpson flies out to left. 8 runs, 6 hits, 1 error, 0 LOB
Scrappers 9th — Valadez doubled, went to third on a single to left by Blair, Valadez and Blair to second on an error by Latimore. Booker flew out to center. Webb singled to center, Blair to third. Armstrong reached on a fielder’s choice, Valadez scoring, Webb out first baseman to shortstop. Velasquez safe on an infield single to third, Armstrong to second. Chisenhall grounded out second to first. 2 runs, 4 hits, 0 errors, 2 LOB