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Scrappers stage late heroics — again
NILES
Call them the comeback kids.
For the second night in a row, the Mahoning Valley Scrappers defeated the State College Spikes with the winning run coming in the bottom of the eighth inning.
On Friday, the Scrappers came from two down for the 3-2 victory, their first in back-to-back nights.
“They’re definitely a lot of fun,” third baseman Joe Wendle said of the recent comebacks, “but we’d like to get ahead early and keep it that way.”
Wendle scored Mahoning Valley’s first run on a Hunter Jones double. The West Chester University product and sixth round draft pick went 3-for-4 after bringing in the tying run in Thursday’s game.
To celebrate, he played few rousing games of ping-pong with Jesse Piecuch, his host parent.
“If I keep hitting this way, I’ll be playing ping-pong every night,” Wendle said. “We’ve been playing the past couple of nights and it worked out tonight.”
The other Scrapper staying in Piecuch’s Champion home is left fielder Aaron Siliga. After a disappointing start to his second season in Mahoning Valley, Siliga collected a pair of hits — his first multihit game — to raise his batting average 25 points to a current .167.
“I’ve been hitting the ball pretty hard — just right at people,” Siliga said. “I found some holes, so it feels good.”
Tyler Naquin led off the bottom of the eighth with a slow roller to the shortstop. After the throw came in and out of Spikes first baseman Jared Lakind’s glove, Naquin ended up on second. Following his 4-for-4 night, Jeremy Lucas helped out with some small ball to move Naquin over with a sacrifice bunt. Charlie Valerio brought Naquin in to score on a deep sacrifice fly to center field for the winning run.
“I think the bats are here now,” Wendle said. “Guys are getting to play consistently and getting their timing down. I think [the hitting] been here all along, but it’s just showing up a little more especially in clutch situations.”
Siliga’s thoughts are similar.
“It’s something to work on every day,” the Oceanside, Calif., native said. “If you don’t get it today, you have something to work on tomorrow. It takes a while to get it out of the way.
“That way, every dog has his day.”
Jones broke a season-long slump, too. He was 0 for his last 23 at-bats before his RBI. Robel Garcia had the Scrappers’ other hit that scored Jones in the seventh.
Jacob Lee struck out five batters and didn’t allow a hit in the eighth and ninth innings for his first win of the season. He relieved Jake Sisco, who went 6.1 innings and allowed a pair of runs and six hits.
“He was able to come on strong in the fourth, fifth and sixth inning for us,” Wendle said. “He had great stuff later on and gave us what we were looking for. He kept us in the game.”
Naquin, the Indians first-round draft pick, finished 0-for-3, snapping a three-game hitting streak.
Chris Diaz and Yhonathon Barrios scored for the Spikes (7-5).
SCRAPPERS 3, SPIKES 2
State CollegeScrappers
abrhbiabrhbi
Carvajal 2b4010Kelly ss4000
Diaz ss4110Naquin cf4100
Barnes cf3010Lucas dh2000
Gnzalez dh4001Valerio c3001
Stallings c4010Wendle 3b4130
Barrios 3b4110Jones rf3111
Gourley lf3000Siliga lf3021
Lakind 1b3001Nilsson 1b3000
Fuselier rf3010Garcia 2b3010
Totals32262Totals29373
State College001100000—2
Scrappers00000021x—3
E—Diaz (5), Lakind (5). PO—Rodriguez. LOB—State College 6, Scrappers 5. 2B—Stallings (4), Jones (1). SB—Diaz (4), Barrios (4). CS—Siliga (1).
IPHRERBBSO
State College
Rodriguez530013
Sampson242204
Cooper L, 0-1101000
Scrappers
Sisco6 1-362224
Lee W, 1-02 2-300005
WP—Sisco. HBP—by Sisco (Barnes). Umpires—Home, Sam Vogt; Bases, J.J. Bilinski. T—2:16 (1:14 delay). A—2,774.