State College Spikes unable to put together enough offense to overcome the Scrappers
Despite strong offensive outings by Damiano Palmegiani, Kenny Piper and James Jett, the State College Spikes fell, 5-2, to the Mahoning Valley Scrappers on Thursday at Medlar Field to drop the series, 2-1.
The trio of Palmegiani, Piper and Jett were the only State College players to record hits, all of whom ended the night with two. The other six State College starters left the field empty handed, as the Scrapper pitchers blanked them in the hits category.
The Spikes made things interesting in the bottom of the ninth inning and had the opportunity to tie the game with runners on first and second base with just one out and second baseman Marques Paige up to bat. However, an errant steal by Tyler Heckert ended in an out, and Paige would ground out to first soon after.
“We had some baserunning blunders of getting picked off,” said Spikes’ manager Delwyn Young. “It’s hard to swing (and) it’s hard to get hits when the momentum stops.”
Zaid Walker stared for Mahoning Valley. Despite his lowly .167 batting average coming into the game, he impressed, leading the Scrappers in RBIs and tied for the lead in hits. He batted 2-for-4 on the night, highlighted by a two-run home run in the sixth inning.
PLAYER OF THE GAME
1B Damiano Palmegiani: In just his sixth game of the season, Palmegiani added both his seventh hit and sixth RBI of the season to the scorecard.
Palmegiani, who joined the team just two weeks ago after concluding individual workouts in California, has already raised his batting average to .350 on the season. He now sits second on the team in the category, only behind infielder Zion Pettigrew.
“This is baseball, so you have to get your feet wet a little bit,” Palmegiani said. “It definitely helped to see some good pitching early in the year, now I’m definitely a little more settled in.”
BOB THE BASEBALL DOG’S RETIREMENT
The final game of the storied 12-year career for the famed golden lab has now passed. The Spikes celebrated the occasion by hosting “Bark in the Park,” an event where fans’ dogs were welcomed to join Bob the Baseball Dog in watching the game.
Bob also had the pleasure of devouring a celebration cake, in a final victory in Put versus Mutt, a long-running in-game entertainment show where Bob takes on the voice of the Spikes, Joe Putnam.
Although Bob didn’t get to watch a victory on his final appearance in the ballpark, he did witness plenty of wins with the organization, highlighted by New York–Penn League championship titles in 2014 and 2016.
UP NEXT
The Spikes will head to Williamsport for a three-game series against the 12-12-1 Crosscutters, a team that the Spikes have scored 62 runs against in their eight previous games this month.
Following that series, the Spikes return home to State College for another midweek series to rematch Mahoning Valley June 29 through July 1.