Niles, OH- The Frederick Keys lost their third straight game Friday night as they fell to the Mahoning Valley Scrappers 9-1 at Eastwood Field, in the first game of a three-game series on the road at Mahoning Valley.
Despite the Keys recording 14 strikeouts as a pitching staff, the Scrappers 11 hits led the way for the home team as they scored five runs in the fourth to take an early sizable lead in front of their exciting home crowd Friday night.
To start off the evening, Kaden Moeller (Mt. San Antonio) struck out the side in the bottom of the first inning, after striking out three batters in a row to keep the game scoreless heading into the second, with the Scrappers leaving two runners on base as a result.
After a scoreless bottom of the second inning from Moeller, it remained a scoreless ballgame heading into the bottom of the third, but Mahoning Valley struck first on an RBI groundout hit by Josh Stevenson.
However, Tom Sun (Augustana) got out of the jam by holding the Scrappers to just one run in the frame, making it 1-0 Mahoning Valley entering the fourth.
Following a scoreless top of the fourth, the Scrappers scored five runs in the fourth to take a 6-0 lead, and they would add one more in the fifth on an RBI single to bump the lead to 7-0 through five innings of play at Eastwood Field.
Frederick got their first run of the game on an RBI single hit by Moeller to right field to score Daylan Pena (Texas State) from second, making it a 7-1 game going into the bottom of the sixth.
Two more runs came around to score on a two-run single, pushing the lead up to eight for the home team at 9-1 entering the seventh, with the Keys looking for a rally down by eight in the opening game of the three-game series.
Dawson Netz (Arizona) picked up a scoreless inning of relief in the seventh while recording two strikeouts in doing so, keeping it a 9-1 game entering the eighth inning Friday night.
Following a scoreless top of the eighth, Netz worked his second straight scoreless inning while recording two more Ks as well, as the score remained at 9-1 in favor of the Scrappers heading into the ninth.
Even with the Keys putting together a slight ninth inning rally courtesy of two walks, Mahoning Valley held the Keys scoreless in the final frame, leading to a series opening victory for the Scrappers by a score of 9-1.
The Keys now look to game two of the series against the Scrappers, which takes place Saturday night at Eastwood Field. First pitch is set for 7:05 p.m.
