Scrappers batter Batavia once again

Scrappers

batter Batavia

once again

By DAN HINER

sports@vindy.com

NILES

After scoring 11 runs in their win over the Batavia Muckdogs on Monday, the Scrappers’ offense continued to drive in runs in their 8-3 win on Tuesday night.

The Scrappers jumped out to an early 1-0 lead after Austen Wade scored on a one-out double to center field by Oscar Gonzalez in the bottom of the first inning.

Mahoning Valley added another run in the bottom of the second after Will Benson hit a leadoff triple to left field and scored on an RBI groundout by third baseman Jonathan Laureano to increase the lead to 2-0.

“It seemed like some of the guys carried their swings from yesterday over into today,” Scrappers manager Luke Carlin said. “They looked really comfortable, aggressive, in the zone for the most part. They found some barrels and they did a great job tonight.”

The Scrappers broke the game open in the bottom of the fourth after scoring three runs due to two errors in the inning by Batavia second baseman Sam Castro and left fielder Matt Brooks.

Laureano drove in his second RBI of the game on a single to left field in the bottom of the fifth. Scrappers’ first baseman Ulysses Cantu scored from second base to make the lead 6-0.

Batavia capitalized on an error in the top of the seventh inning and strung together two hits to cut the lead to 6-2.

Muckdogs’ first baseman Ben Fisher and center fielder Thomas Jones scored on back-to-back RBI groundouts by catcher David Gauntt and Brooks.

But Wade led off the bottom of the eighth with a homerun to right field and Scrappers’ second baseman Samad Taylor scored on a RBI groundout by Cantu to make the lead 8-2.

Wade finished the game 2 for 4 with an RBI and two runs scored.

“He kinda started everything tonight, which was nice,” Carlin said. “He did a good job. He’s been swinging it well as of late too. He had the day off yesterday and it was nice to see him get back in there today and get it going.”

Batavia added one more run in the top of the ninth but couldn’t get anything else going.

Mahoning Valley starting pitcher Grant Hockin shut down the Muckdogs’ offense early in the game. Hockin pitched five scoreless innings and allowed one hit and one walk while striking out three.

“Grant did a great job tonight,” Carlin said. “He kinda mixed early, which was nice. It was important for him to get that breaking ball over early so that he knew he had it. He did a great job. I think he had four innings last time and four innings the time before that. We kinda built him up today and he had five.”

“Tomorrow’s a new day and it presents new challenges. We have to refocus and that’s kind of the MO here,” Carlin said. “The guys need to stay focused on what they need to be doing and let their actions do it.