Sometimes baseball can be an ugly sport to watch.

The State College Spikes' pitchers recorded seven walks, and the defense committed three errors as the Mahoning Valley Scrappers defeated the Spikes, 6-3, last night.

Third baseman Allen Craig gave the Spikes a two-run lead when he hit a Citizen Bank Park home run -- wind aided and barely clearing the fence -- to left. But, once again, the Spikes' bullpen gave the game away.

This time the blow-up happened in the seventh inning. Spikes pitcher Ryan Hodinka walked two straight batters and allowed a RBI-single before being removed by Spikes manager Mark DeJohn, who called on Marco Gonzalez.

Then, the proverbial flood gates opened.

Two singles, another walk, and a botched double play by second baseman Willian Sandoval helped raise Gonzalez's season ERA to more than 20.00 and gave the Scrappers a three-run lead they didn't relinquish.

"I had a hard time throwing strikes," Gonzalez said. "You have to get out there and get ahead of hitters and get ground balls. When you're behind in the count, you can't do that."

To say Gonzalez has been struggling would be an understatement. After tearing up the rookie league in Johnson City -- 3-0 record and a 0.73 ERA -- he has come crashing down to Earth. In three appearances prior to last night, Gonzalez walked two and allowed four hits in only 1-2/3 innings. DeJohn said he believed Gonzalez is fine and he only needs to get over the mental hump, but Gonzalez is still dumbfounded.

"I really can't figure it out," Gonzalez said. "These are the same hitters. They are not any better than the ones in Johnson City. I'm just not throwing strikes and falling behind in the count and making it hard on myself."

The evening didn't start off well either for Matt Wilkerson, who usually plays right field and was inserted into the first base carousel, which includes Scott Thomas and A.J. Van Slyke. The experiment looked like a bad decision in the first inning when he committed back-to-back errors.

"I started the game with two plays I should have made," Wilkerson said. "Those were two tough plays that should have been made. You gotta take the good with the bad. It's a position, that at the professional level, just takes repetition."

Wilkerson, a second-year pro, has been struggling with a batting average below the Mendoza Line. His struggles could be his ticket out of State College and to the unemployment line because Wilkerson has already seen the St. Louis Cardinals give the pink slip to former teammates Charles Carter and Adam Morris -- ironically Morris struggled at first before his release -- for similar reasons. But he may also have some pitchers to keep him company if they keep self-destructing.

Spikes Notes

Jose Salazar was called up to The Swing of the Quad Cities on Saturday... The Cardinals have also announced that they have assigned Luke Gorsett to take Salazar's place on the Spikes roster. Gorsett, an outfielder, was the seventh round draft pick of the Cardinals in the 2006 draft... Van Slyke is hitting .500 over his last five games... Saturday night's ninth inning comeback against Williamsport gave the Spikes back-to-back wins in their last at-bat.