Muckdogs bow as race for first place tightens
Contributed Photo – The Batavia defense held Mahoning Valley to one run into the ninth but couldn’t put the game away in a 5-0 loss Monday. Jack Strunc tags out a Scrapper baserunner.
BATAVIA – As the race for the New York-Penn League Pinckney Division gets tighter, the Batavia Muckdogs have four crucial home games this week.
Batavia (33-24) fell to Mahoning Valley, 5-0 on Monday night as second place West Virginia (30-25) picked up a win to move two games out of first.
The lead was just 1-0 in the ninth as the pitching staff held Mahoning Vally in check.
Edgar Martinez who suffered the hard-luck loss, gave up one run in six innings, striking out one without a walk. He is 2-3 and his ERA dropped to 2.88
Easton Lucas had a strong seventh and finished with four strikeouts in two innings.
At the plate for Batavia, Dustin Skelton, Andrew Turner, Julian Infante, Nic Ready, Troy Johnston and Milton Smith II (stolen bases, his 17th on the season) all had hits, but the Muckdogs stranded all seven runners.
Batavia hotss Mahoning Valley this evening and then on Wednesday second-place West Virginia comes to town for three games.
