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Scrappers snag a victory
Photo
Scrappers right fielder Hunter Jones goes airborne to make a catch and prevent a State College rally during the top of the seventh inning of Thursday’s game at Eastwood Field.
NILES
He struck out with runners on the corners, down one in the bottom of the eighth — his second strikeout of the game.
In fact, he was hitless in all four of his at-bats, but Hunter Jones may have just won Thursday’s game against State College for the Mahoning Valley Scrappers.
With a runner on second in the top of the seventh, Jones ran nearly 25 feet to the warning track in deep right-center field to rob Barrett Barnes of extra bases that would’ve given the Spikes a greater lead than their 5-4 advantage at the time.
“That was a top-10 play in my book,” catcher Jeremy Lucas said.
Jones himself had a feeling he’d track it down, especially after misplaying an eventual ground-rule double by Rodarrick Jones earlier.
“I followed it off the bat pretty well, and I thought I had a good chance at it,” he said. “I put my head down and ran. For the last couple of seconds, I looked up, dove out and made the catch. I was ready to sacrifice my body for anything at that point, I didn’t even care.”
The Scrappers plated two runs in the bottom of eighth for a 6-5 come-from-behind victory in front of 3,680 fans at Eastwood Field.
Although he didn’t contribute to the win offensively, did a remarkable diving grab make up for the poor performance at the plate?
“Almost,” Jones said. “I just need to get my bat back in the game. I’m changing up my stance a little bit and trying some different things. It was the first day of really putting all my changes into practice.”
Hopefully, the hits will come. In the meantime, Jones hopes to get something from relief pitcher Michael Peoples, who gave up that deep fly ball.
“He better make me a cake or something,” Jones said, laughing.
If he gets a cake, catcher Lucas deserves a full-course meal.
The 12th-round pick out of Indiana State went 4 for 4 with a double, an RBI and a run scored. It was part of 13-hit night — 11 more than Mahoning Valley (4-7) legged out on Wednesday.
“I guess that’s what I needed to jump start my season,” Lucas, who is second on the team with a .357 batting average, said. “The dugout was a lot different tonight. Sometimes all you need is to just get a hit to get things going for the whole team. The bats really came through.”
The Scrappers faced Spikes starting pitcher John Creasy on June 23 at State College. That was a 9-2 loss for Mahoning Valley. Creasy gave up six hits and four runs on Thursday.
“We’re going to start seeing these pitchers more and more, then the advantage turns to us,” Lucas said.
Mahoning Valley manager Ted Kubiak called it “the nicest game I’ve seen.”
“To me [consistency] is the whole game,” he said. “There’s no tricks. Consistency is the key.”
The Scrappers scored one in the first, then Jairo Kelly followed that with a three-run home run to the right field bullpen in the second. It was Kelly’s first of the year to become the only Scrapper, besides Juan Romero, to have a home run.
Aaron Siliga made it 5-5 in the eighth with an RBI single. Two batters later, Joey Wendle pinch hit for Robel Garcia delivering the game-winning sacrifice fly. Wendle, a left-hander, was brought on to face reliever Tom Harlan, also a lefty.
“That was a learning experience,” Kubiak said of the uncharacteristic move.
Enosil Tejeda pitched two hitless innings for the win. State College drops to 7-4.
SCRAPPERS 6, SPIKES 5
State CollegeScrappers
abrhbiabrhbi
Carvajal 2b5120Kelly ss5233
Crumlich 3b4111Naquin cf4010
Barnes cf4000Valerio 1b4031
Gonzalez 1b3110Romero dh4000
Diaz ss4021Sever 3b4110
Hornback c4011Siliga lf3210
Gourley lf3100Jones rf4000
Vlsente dh4011Lucas c4141
Jones rf4110Garcia 2b3000
Totals33272Totals27120
State College000401000—5
Scrappers13000002x—6
E—Breedlove (1), Naquin (1), Peoples (2). DP—Scrappers 1. LOB—State College 7, Scrappers 8. 2B—Jones (1), Crumlich (2), Valerio (3), Lucas (1). HR—Kelly (1). SB—Diaz (3). PB—Lucas (2).
IPHRERBBSO
State College
Creasy4 1-364421
Breedlove1 2-310000
Harlan L, 1-1262202
Scrappers
Davenport574413
Peoples221011
Tejeda W, 2-0200012
WP—Peoples. HBP—by Peoples (Gonzalez). Umpires—Home, J.J. Bilinski; Bases, Sam Vogt. T—2:31. A—3,680.