Scrappers set season highs in runs and hits in rout of Spikes

Photo

Scrappers short stop #1 Tony Wolters tags out a sliding Kirk Singer #3 of State College while he was trying to steal second.

Staff report

STATE COLLEGE, PA.

Jake Lowery had three hits, including a double, and drove in six runs to lead the Mahoning Valley Scrappers to a 17-4 rout of the State College Spikes in a New York-Penn League game on Thursday night.

The Scrappers set season-highs with 17 runs and 20 hits, improving to 19-15.

State College fell to 10-24. The Spikes were led by Chris Lashmet with a pair of hits, including a double, and two RBIs.

The beneficiary of all that offense was Scrappers starting pitcher Rob Nixon (2-3) who scattered eight hits and gave two earned runs in six innings. He struck out four and didn’t walk a batter.

Nathan Striz pitched two innings of relief, allowing two unearned runs, and Tony Dischler finished up with a perfect ninth inning.

Also for the Scrappers, designated hitter Jordan Smith had three hits, including a double, and drove in three runs. Jerrud Sabourin also singled twice and doubled, and he had one RBI.

Cody Elliott, Tony Wolters, John Barr, Todd Hankins and Evan Frazar had two singles apiece for Mahoning Valley, which scored five runs in the third inning to take a 6-0 lead and then added seven runs in the fifth inning to make it a 15-2 score.

Lowery flied out in his first at-bat, but in the third inning he hit a two-run single to give the Scrappers a 3-0 lead.

He added another two-run single in the fourth inning to give the Scrappers an 8-2 lead.

Then, in the Scrappers’ big fifth inning, Lowery added his final hit, the double, to score Sabourin and Aaron Siliga and give Mahoning Valley a 13-2 advantage.