Spikes blank Scrappers in home opener

June 26, 2015 at 12:00a.m.

NILES

The good news is that the Mahoning Valley Scrappers weren’t the victims of a perfect game Thursday when they hosted State College at Eastwood Field.

Scrappers leadoff hitter Willi Castro made sure of it when he led off the bottom of the first with an infield base hit. Castro’s hit occurred one night after a trio of Batavia pitchers teamed up to hurl a perfect game against the Scrappers.

The bad news?

Castro’s single was one of just four hits the Scrappers’ offense was able to muster. Meanwhile, Scrappers pitchers struggled with their control throughout the night. The result was a State College 6-0 win in the Scrappers’ home opener.

The Scrappers used six pitchers who combined to give up 11 hits and issue seven walks. Jose Zapata, making his first start after three relief appearances, worked three innings. Zapata was actually one of the more effective pitchers for the Scrappers, giving up just one earned run on four hits while recording a pair of strikeouts. However, a lack of offense cost Zapata (1-1, 1.50 ERA) the game.

“Jose threw the ball really good; I thought he looked great today,” said Scrappers manager Travis Fryman. “I thought he threw the ball better than his last outing, so that’s a positive to take away from tonight’s game.”

Scrappers reliever Carlos Melo struggled in his one inning. The right-hander gave up two runs on four hits and also walked four batters.

Leobaldo Pena led the Spikes offense with a 3-for-5 performance, including a towering home run to left-center in the sixth. Casey Grayson and Thomas Spitz each collected two hits for the visitors. Six different Spikes collected an RBI.

“You go through ups and downs, that’s to be expected at this level and at this part of the season,” Fryman said. “This is all part of the learning process. We struggled tonight, but some of these same guys who struggled had solid outings their last time out. That’s baseball.”

Offensively, the Scrappers — who had pounded out 30 hits in their two games prior to the loss at Batavia — got just a pair of singles from Ka’ai Tom and a double from Anthony Santander following Castro’s first-inning hit.

“When you’re dealing with young players and young teams you’re dealing with volatility,” Fryman said. “We’re a young group and you never know what each night brings.

“A lot of these players are playing in front of fans and under the lights for the first time. You see they have talent, but you never know quite how they will react until they are put in this situation.”

Meanwhile, Tom is confident that he and his teammates will soon rediscover their offensive stride.

“These past two nights were just a combination of facing good pitching and this being the minor leagues where baseball is a difficult game,” Tom said. “At any level, baseball is a game of failure. It’s just a matter of bouncing back when you have a bad night.”

The Scrappers and Spikes continue their three-game series tonight at 7:05.