Scrappers threaten, fall short to Vermont

Staff report

Burlington, Vt.

The Mahoning Valley Scrappers threatened in the ninth inning before falling short Thursday night in a 7-6 loss to the Vermont Lake Monsters in New York-Penn League action.

Trailing by one run entering the ninth, Bryson Myles hit a leadoff double and moved to third on Tony Wolters’ sacrifice bunt. But Vermont pitcher Jeff Urlaub struck out Jake Lowery, walked Jordan Smith and got Todd Hankins out on a pop-up to second base to end the game.

Jordan Smith had two hits, including a double, to go with two walks and two runs for Mahoning Valley (33-25), which is in third place in the Pinckney Division standings, 11/2 games behind Auburn and a half-game behind Williamsport. The Crosscutters also lead the Scrappers in the wild card standings.

Cody Elliott singled, walked, scored and drove in a run for the Scrappers, who managed just five hits but had 10 walks.

Alex Lavisky doubled and drove in two runs, while Wolters, Lowery and Hankins scored the team’s other runs.

Rob Nixon started and gave up six runs (five earned) on nine hits in 42/3 innings. He struck out three and gave up two homers.

Nathan Striz (3-4) pitched 21/3 innings of relief, giving up one run on three hits with four strikeouts.

Enosil Tejeda pitched a hitless eighth, striking out two.

Chad Oberacker went 3-for-4 with a run and Bobby Crocker added two hits, including a two-run homer in the fifth, and drove in three runs for Vermont (29-28), which has a 11/2-game lead in the Stedler Division.

The Scrappers will play one more game in Vermont, then head to Batavia for a three-game series.

They start a six-game homestand on Tuesday at Eastwood Field. Mahoning Valley has 17 games left this season.