The second game of the three-game series between Mahoning Valley and Williamsport provided plenty of dramatics, but in the end the Scrappers would pull of a 2-1 walk off win.
Starters Alexander Llinas and Evan Grimes brought their best stuff to the ballpark. Both pitchers started their day with five scoreless innings, keeping the bats at bay.
Tervell Johnson was a big help in the five scoreless for Llinas, as he made a spectacular diving shot to begin a 4-6-3 double play that ended the fifth inning.
The Crosscutters would get to Llinas in the sixth, as the first three batters reached base to load them with no outs. David Johnson would then relieve Llinas, allowing just one of those runners to cross the plate. Pitching coach Jason Stanford would be ejected in the inning, but Johnson would hold the score to 1-0.
The Scrappers had a chance to get that run back, as Michael Young hit a ground ball right between the third baseman and shortstop with runners on first and second. Shortstop Sam DeCarlo would somehow get a glove on the ball deep in the hole at short and would eat the throw to first, but the lead runner Davis Mauzy took a hard turn at third with no hesitation about heading for the plate. DeCarlo would make a throw home to end the inning and keep the Scrappers scoreless.
Grimes would finish seven innings of one hit shutout baseball, striking out nine batters, but still would not factor into the decision for Williamsport.
Mahoning Valley wasted no time getting to the new pitcher Luc Laviguer. Jaden Hylton led the inning off with a double to right field, and Maddox Mihalakis followed that up right away with an RBI single to tie the game. Mauzy would bat next and draw a walk, prompting a quick pitching change for the Crosscutters.
Joel Tornero would enter, striking out Zion Williams and getting Young to ground into an inning ending double play to escape the jam.
Reagan Rivers pitched a 1-2-3 ninth to give the Scrappers a chance to walk it off, and they would.
The bases were loaded with two outs for Mihalakis, who would hit a high pop fly to the left side of the infield. Third baseman Nicholas Romona and DeCarlo would both call for the ball, causing it to hit in and out of Romano’s glove, as the winning run would score to give the Scrappers a 2-1 win.
They will now go for the series win tonight on Star Wars night, 7:17 p.m. first pitch.
