UNIVERSITY PARK - Mahoning Valley scratched a run across in the top of the ninth, and the Spikes left the tying run on second base in the bottom of the inning as the Scrappers took a 7-6 win Wednesday afternoon.
Zach Booker's sacrifice fly brought in Donnie Webb to give Mahoning Valley
(19-23) the lead after Webb had walked, stole second and advanced to third on a groundout.
State College (9-30) then got two-out base hits in the bottom of the ninth from Calvin Anderson and Quincy Latimore. But Mahoning Valley's Dave Roberts (1-0) retired Kyle Morgan on a strikeout to finish the game.
The Spikes pounded out 15 hits - one shy of their season high - in the loss.
Latimore had three hits, with eight of the nine Spikes in the starting lineup getting at least one hit.
A crowd of 4,252 on Super Splash Day at the park saw the Spikes' Andy Vasquez hit a three-run homer tie the game, 6-6, in the bottom of the eighth. It was Vasquez's first home run of the year.
Lonnie Chisenhall homered for the Scrappers in the fifth inning. Chisenhall's two-run homer was his second of the three-game series.
Roberts recorded the win for Mahoning Valley after allowing the home run to Vasquez and ending the game in the ninth. In two innings, Roberts allowed three runs on five hits while striking out three.
Ramon Aguero (1-6) drew the loss for State College after allowing two runs, one earned, over the final four innings. Aguero walked one and struck out two.
Brian Leach started for the Spikes and stretched his scoreless streak to nine before allowing a run in the fourth inning. Leach has now allowed two earned runs over his last 24 innings, good for a 0.75 ERA.
The Spikes next meet the Batavia Muckdogs for a three-game series, starting at 6:05 p.m. today at Dwyer Stadium in Batavia.
