Published: Thursday, August 3, 2006
Scrappers hold off Muckdogs to remain in first in Pinckney
By PETE MOLLICA
NILES — The Mahoning Valley Scrappers have found a lot of different ways to win games this season, but manager Rouglas Odor wishes they would do it some other way than they did Wednesday night.
Mahoning Valley jumped out to a 5-1 lead over Batavia after three innings, then had to hold off the Muckdogs for a 5-4 victory before 4,227 at Eastwood Field.
The victory, their fifth straight, improved the Scrappers to 23-19 and kept them in first place in the Pinckney Division of the New York-Penn League. Batavia (16-23) has been on the losing end of all five of the Scrappers' wins.
"A good team is going to find a way to win the game and we've been doing that, except for that six-game losing streak last week," Odor said.
"The thing is that we come out ready to play and you win a lot of ball games in those first few innings," Odor said.
"Overall our pitching has been excellent and we've been getting some timely hits at the plate," Odor said.
Solid start by Valdez
Luis Valdez (6-2), who was coming off two straight losses, pitched five solid innings for the Scrappers, allowing four hits and one run, while striking out five (four of them in the first inning).
Reliever Derrick Loop struggled in 11/3 innings, allowing three runs on three hits with a couple of walks and a hit batter, but Matt Meyer and Jorge Reire came on in the ninth to close the door.
Meyer, who entered in the seventh to get the Scrappers out of the inning after Batavia scored three times, pitched well but was bothered by the weather.
"I'm just not used to this heat and humidity. It really took its toll out there tonight," Meyer said. "I didn't help things by throwing too many pitches, but we managed to hang on and get the win."
Reire came on with two outs in the ninth to retire the final batter and get the save, his second of the season.
Valdez had four strikeouts in the first inning, but his wild pitch on strike three allowed Batavia's Jason Donald to reach first.
Dubee hit hard
The Scrappers jumped on Batavia starter Michael Dubee for two runs in the first inning. Adam Davis led off with a triple down the right-field line and scored on Andy Lytle's sacrifice fly. With two outs, Matt McBride singled and stole second and after Dustin Realini walked, Stephen Douglas singled home McBride.
In the second, the Scrappers scored another run as Josh Roberts reached on an error and stole second. He moved to third on a fly out and scored on Lytle's infield single.
Mahoning Valley concluded its scoring in the third when Douglas led off with a triple and came home on Evandy DeLeon's second home run in two games, over the left field wall.
Muckdogs rally
Batavia scored one in the third off Valdez on an RBI single by Gus Milner, but made the game close in the seventh.
Loop hit leadoff batter Tim Kennelly and walked Quintin Berry. P.J. Antoniato followed with an RBI single that also moved Berry to third and Zach Penprase hit a sacrifice fly to right to score Berry. After Jason Donald doubled, moving Antoniato to third, Meyer came in to pitch and gave up a sacrifice fly to Jacob Dempsey. Meyer struck out Milner to end the inning.
———
BATAVIA SCRAPPERS
ab r h bi ab r h bi
Antoniato 3b 5 1 2 1 Davis 2b 5 1 1 0
Penprase 2b 4 0 0 1 Lytle ss 3 0 1 2
Donald ss 5 1 2 0 Goedert 3b 3 0 1 0
Dempsey dh 4 0 2 1 McBride c 3 1 1 0
Cuevas pr-dh 0 0 0 0 Realini 1b 3 0 0 0
Milner rf 5 0 2 1 Douglas cf 4 1 2 1
Yarbrough 1b 3 0 0 0 Cmbrbtch rf 4 0 1 0
Miller lf 4 0 0 0 De Leon lf 4 1 1 2
Kennelly c 2 1 0 0 Roberts dh 4 1 1 0
Capps pr 0 0 0 0
Morales c 0 0 0 0
Berry cf 1 1 0 0
Totals Totals
Batavia 001 000 300 — 0
Scrappers 212 000 000 — 0
E—Dubee (1), Davis (11). LOB—Batavia 10, Scrappers 8. 2B—Donald 2 (8). 3B—Davis (4), Douglas (2). HR—DeLeon (2). SB—McBride (3), Cumberbatch (3), Roberts (4), Cuevas (2), Capps (2). CS—Milner. SF—Lytle, Penprase, Dempsey.
IP H R ER BB SO
Batavia
Dubee L, 0-1 2 1-3 7 5 4 1 1
Gazo 3 2-3 2 0 0 0 1
Hill 2 0 0 0 0 3
Scrappers
Valdez W, 6-2 5 4 1 1 1 5
Loop 1 1-3 3 3 3 2 1
Meyer 2 1-3 1 0 0 2 2
Riera S, 2 1-3 0 0 0 0 0
WP—Gazo, Valdez. HBP—by Dubee (McBride), by Gazo (Goedert), by Loop (Kennelly). Umpires—Home, Shea Gibson; First, Travis Carlson. T—3:01. A—4,227.
Scrappers 1st — Davis tripled to right field. Lytle flew out (F-8), Davis scored. Goedert grounded out (6-3). McBride singled to center field. With Realini batting, McBride stole 2nd. Realini walked. Douglas singled to center field, McBride scored, Realini to 2nd. Cumberbatch grounded out (1-3). 2 runs, 3 hits, 0 errors, 2 LOB
Scrappers 2nd — De Leon struck out. Roberts reached on error (E-1). With Davis batting, Roberts stole 2nd. Davis flied out (F-9), Roberts to 3rd. Lytle singled to shortstop, Roberts scored. Goedert singled to center field, Lytle to 2nd. McBride hit by pitch, Lytle to 3rd, Goedert to 2nd. Realini grounded into force out (5-4), McBride out at 2nd. 1 run, 2 hits, 1 error, 2 LOB
Batavia 3rd — Penprase grounded out (4-3). Donald doubled to left field. Dempsey flied out (F-7). Milner singled to left field, Donald scored. Yarbrough popped out (F-4). 1 run, 2 hits, 0 errors, 1 LOB
Scrappers 3rd — Douglas tripled to right field. Cumberbatch grounded out (6-3). De Leon homered to left field, Douglas scored. Pitching change: Gazo replaced Dubee. Roberts singled to left field. Davis flied out (F-7). With Lytle batting, wild pitch by Gazo, Roberts to 2nd. Lytle flied out (F-9). 2 runs, 3 hits, 0 errors, 1 LOB
Batavia 7th — Kennelly hit by pitch. Berry walked, Kennelly to 2nd. Antoniato singled to left field, Kennelly scored, Berry to 3rd. Penprase flied out (F-9), Berry scored. Donald doubled to center field, Antoniato to 3rd. Pitching change: Meyer replaced Loop. Dempsey flied out (F-7), Antoniato scored. Milner struck out. 3 runs, 2 hits, 0 errors, 1 LOB
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