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Scrappers finish sweep of Spikes with 7-6 victory
Mahoning Valley was outhit 15-6, but State College committed four costly errors.
STATE COLLEGE, Pa. — One thing the Mahoning Valley baseball team does is make things interesting.
For the second time in the three-game series with the State College Spikes, the Scrappers held on for a 7-6 win to complete the sweep of the series against the Pittsburgh Pirates farmhands.
“I don’t like interesting ball games,” said Scrapper manager Travis Fryman following the nail biter. “I like games where we win 10-0 or something like that.
“We executed pretty well and our situational hitting was good today. The difference in the ball game was in the last column (the Spikes had four errors in the game). They outhit us 15-6, but their errors were definitely the difference in the ball game.”
Although Scrappers starting pitcher P. J. Zocchi didn’t seem to be as sharp as he has been, he had enough to pick up the win.
The right-hander worked five innings, allowing two earned runs on seven hits. He struck out six and didn’t walk anybody.
“Actually, I thought this was the worst of his last three outings,” said Fryman. “He just looked like his game plan was not real good out there today, but he was able to manage the game. But he did keep us in the ball game and then we were able to score some runs.”
The Spikes drew first blood in the second inning and they did it with two outs.
Miguel Mendez picked on a Zocchi fastball and lined it down the left-field line for a double. Mendez scored the game’s first run when Vasquez hit a ground single to center field.
The Spikes lead was short-lived as the Scrappers tied the game in the fourth with a little help from their hosts.
With one out, Brock Simpson tripled off the boards in right field, and later scored when State College starting pitcher Brian Leach uncorked a wild pitch.
After the Spikes regained the lead at 2-1 in the fourth, the Scrappers began their climb to the win as they answered with four runs in the fifth.
Big hits for the Scrappers in the uprising were a double by Ryan Blair, a RBI double by Zach Booker and a long home run to right field by Lonnie Chisenhall, his second of the series.
“He [Chisenhall] is starting to come into his own a little bit,” said Fryman. “He is starting to get more comfortable and more aggressive with some of his swings. Again, you are watching him develop as a hitter and he is a pretty good looking hitter.”
Trailing by four (6-2), the Spikes clawed their way back into the game with a single run in the seventh before adding three more in the 8th to deadlock the game at 6.
The Scrappers scored the go-ahead run in the top of the ninth and they did it without a hit.
Donnie Webb walked, stole second, moved to third on a ground out by Ryan Blair and scored on Zach Booker’s sacrifice fly to left field.
The Spikes didn’t go quietly in their half of the ninth as they had the tying run on second and the winning run on first before reliever David Roberts, who hung around to pick up the win, fanned Kyle Morgan for the final out of the game.
———
SCRAPPERSSTATE COLLEGE
abrhbiabrhbi
Velasquez 3b4020D’Arnaud ss5110
Phelps 2b4100Payne 3b5010
Chisenhall ss4112Biela rf5021
Simpson 1b4110Anderson 1b5120
Realini dh2000Rice pr0000
Webb cf3100Latimore dh5130
Blair rf4110Morgan lf5020
Booker c3112Mendez c4221
Armstrong lf3100Vasquez 2b4124
Rubinstein cf4000
Totals31764Totals426156
Scrappers000140011—7
State College010100130—6
E—Amaro (1), Payne (5), Rubinstein (2), Mendez (2). DP—State College 1. LOB—Scrappers 2, State College 9. 2B—Velasquez (10), Blair (5), Booker (4), Payne (6), Mendez (1), Morgan (5). 3B—Simpson (2), D’Arnaud (2). HR—Chisenhall (4), Vasquez (1). SB—Phelps (1), Webb (3), Vasquez (5). CS—Velasquez (4). S—Armstrong. SF—Booker.
IPHRERBBSO
Scrappers
Zocchi572206
AMartinez231101
Roberts W, 1-0253303
State College
Leach421113
Amaro134100
Aguero L, 1-6412112
WP—Leach. HBP—by Aguero (Realini). Umpires—Home, Jose Esteras; Bases, Aaron Larson. T—2:47. A—4,252.
HOW THEY SCORED
State College 2nd — Quincy Latimore popped out to shortstop. Kyle Morgan struck out looking. Miguel Mendez doubled to left and scored on a RBI single to center by Andy Vasquez. Vasquez stole second. David Rubinstein grounded out first baseman to pitcher covering. 1 run, 2 hits, 0 errors, 1 LOB
Scrappers 4th — Lonnie Chisenhall grounded out first baseman to pitcher covering. Brock Simpson triple to right field. Dustin Realini grounded out to second. With Donnie Webb at the plate, Simpson scored on a wild pitch by State College pitcher Brian Leach. Webb grounded out to second. 1 run, 1 hit, 0 errors, 0 LOB
State College 4th — The Spikes loaded the bases on singles by Calvin Anderson, Quincy Latimore and Kyle Morgan. Miguel Mendez grounded out third to first, Anderson scoring, Latimore to third and Morgan moving to second. Andy Vasquez struck out looking. David Rubinstein flew out to center. 1 run, 3 hits, 0 errors, 2 LOB
Scrappers 5th — Ryan Blair doubled to left and scored on a double down the right field line by Zach Booker. Corteze Armstrong was safe on a sacrifice bunt, throwing error by pitcher Carlos Amaro, Booker moving to third on the sacrifice and scoring on the throwing error. Isaias Velasquez grounded out third to first, Armstrong moving to second. Cord Phelps flew out to left field. Lonnie Chisenhall took a 3-2 fastball over the right field fence for a 2-run homer, Armstrong scoring from second. Simpson grounded out second to first. 4 runs, 3 hits, 1 error, 0 LOB
State College 7th — David Rubinstein grounded out second to first. Chase d’Arnaud triple to right-center field. Matt Payne lined out to second. Butch Biela lined a single to left, d’Arnaud scoring from third. Calvin Anderson flew out to right. 1 run, 2 hits, 0 errors, 1 LOB
Scrappers 8th — Cord Phelps reached on an error by Spikes third baseman Matt Payne. Lonnie Chisenhall struck out swinging. Brock Simpson popped out to second base. With Dustin Realini at the plate, Phelps stole second, went to third on an error by State College catcher Miguel Mendez and scored on an error by Spikes center fielder David Rubinstein. Dustin Realini grounded out shortstop to first. 1 run, 0 hits, 0 errors, 0 LOB
State College 8th — Quincy Latimore singled to center. Kyle Morgan struck out looking. Miguel Mendez beat out an infield single to third, Latimore to second. Andy Vasquez hit a home run to center field, Latimore scoring from third and Mendez scoring from second. David Rubenstein lined out to third. Case D’Arnaud flew out to left. 3 runs, 3 hits, 0 errors, 0 LOB
Scrappers 9th — Donnie Webb walked. With Ryan Blair at the plate, Webb stole second. Ryan Blair grounded out first baseman unassisted. Zach Booker hit a sacrifice fly to left, Webb scoring from third. Armstrong grounded out third to first. 1 run, 0 hits, 0 errors, 0 LOB
XNew York-Penn League standings/C2