The early-season position scramble was in full-effect Friday night at Eastwood Field.  Manager Ted Kubiak shuffled a few of his young Mahoning Valley Scrappers around to see if he could get a spark out of some guys from new angles.  Following a rain delay that lasted a little more than an hour, the Scrappers found a way to get it done and won, 3-2.

One of the experiments involved Joey Wendle (above).  Wendle saw action at third base for the first time as a Scrapper rather than the view he is used to from second.  Wendle had a productive night with the bat (3-4) and made all of the routine plays.  Experiment one clicked.

The Spikes picked up a run in each, the third and fourth innings.  The run in the third was scored by Chris Diaz on a groundout.  The fourth inning run was pretty much all Yhonathan Barrios.  The State College 3B singled and stole second.  He then advanced to third on a fly out and would eventually score on a Jared Lakind groundout.

Experiment number two was to get as many catchers on the field as possible.  Three of the four Scrappers catchers started.  Charlie Valerio started the game behind the plate.  Last nights hitting star, Jeremy Lucas, coming off of a 4-4 performance, got the start at DH.  Mitch Nilsson, the Aussie prospect, took a stab at first base.  The three catchers combined to go 0-8 at the plate.  Experiment two may need rethought.

Scrappers starter Jake Cisco went 6-1/3 innings.  He threw 76 pitches (50 strikes) and gave up two earned runs.  Cisco walked one and struck out three Spikes batters.  Jacob Lee was summoned from the bullpen to relieve Cisco.

The Scrapper bats came to life in the bottom of the seventh.  Wendle nabbed his third single in as many at bats.  Hunter Jones followed with a double that drove home a hustling Wendle to make it 2-1.  Aaron Siliga (above) followed that with a single that pushed Jones across to tie the game.

Tyler Naquin started the eighth with a way to get on as he hustled up the line and the first basemen dropped the throw.  Naquin ended up on second base.  Lucas then executed a nice bunt to move Naquin over to third.  Valerio then hit a sac fly deep enough to plate the speedy top draft pick, Naquin, from third to vault the Scrappers into a 3-2 lead.

Lee picked up the win for the Scrappers throwing 2-2/3 scoreless innings.