Lukes powers Scrappers in rout

Staff report

BATAVIA, N.y.

Nathan Lukes went 4-for-5 with four RBIs and two of the Mahoning Valley Scrappers’ eight doubles in an 11-2 win over the Batavia Muckdogs on Tuesday night at Dwyer Stadium.

Anthony Santander also doubled twice, including a two-run drive to right field in the top of the fifth inning to plate Willi Castro and Mark Mathias and snap a 1-1 tie. Santander also walked twice and had two RBIs in his four plate appearances.

Lukes doubled in a run in the sixth and scored on a passed ball as the Scrappers (3-2) made it 5-2. Lukes came up again in the seventh, this time with the bases loaded, and cleared them with line-drive double to left field. He scored on a single by Connor Marabell as Mahoning Valley increased its lead to 9-2.

The Scrappers also scored twice in the eighth on Emmanuel Tapia’s RBI groundout and Li-Jen Chu’s run-scoring double.

Shao-Ching Chiang (1-0) started and pitched six innings, allowing just two hits and one unearned run. James Stokes worked two scoreless innings and Ping-Hsueh Chen pitched the ninth and allowed two hits and a walk and threw a wild pitch to account for Batavia’s only other run.

Each team scored a run inn the second. The Scrappers’ Austin Fisher drove in the first run of the game with a sacrifice fly. The Muckdogs tied it when Korey Dunbar walked and came around to score on a double by Blake Anderson and an error by Scrappers left fielder Ka’ai Tom.

Mahoning Valley can finish a three-game sweep of winless Batavia (0-5) in a 7:05 finale tonight at Dwyer Stadium. The Scrappers outscored the Muckdogs 26-13 in the first two games of the series.

The Scrappers’ home opener is Thursday night against State College at Eastwood Field.

The first pitch is set for 7:05.