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Niles, OH- Will Benson hit his team leading eighth homerun in the bottom of the eighth inning to break a 1-1 tie and lift the Mahoning Valley Scrappers over the State College Spikes 2-1 on Friday night. With the win, the Scrappers push their division lead out to 2.5 games with six games left in the season.
State College jumped out to an early lead on a solo homerun from Matt Davis.
In the bottom of the fourth inning the Scrappers would tie the game. With one out Tyler Friis walked and moved to second on a Jason Rodriguez single. Clark Scolamiero followed with an RBI single to score Friis to tie the game at one.
The game would stay tied until the bottom of the eighth when with one out Benson drove an 0-1 pitch over the rightfield wall for the go ahead homerun. Felix Tati then worked a 1-2-3 ninth inning to close out the game.
With the win the Scrappers increase their lead in the Pinckney Division to 2.5 games over State College. The Scrappers also lowered their magic number to clinch the division to four.
Sam Hentges started and took a no decision in 4.2 innings of work. He allowed one earned run on just one hit. Hentges walked one and struck out eight. Randy Valladares would then work 0.1 innings and allowed one hit and struck out one. Tati (7-3) picked up the win in 4.0 innings of relief. Tati allowed just one hit and struck out three.
The Scrappers and Spikes conclude their season series on Saturday night at 7:05. Gregori Vasquez will get the start. Saturday is Fan Appreciation night. Call the Scrappers box office at 330-505-0000 to get your tickets or get them online at www.mvscrappers.com.
