The setback was the Spikes’ third in four games on this road trip and fifth in their last six road contests overall.

Gerlis Rodriguez was 2-for-4 to lead State College and Adalberto Santos poked a double.

David Anderson ripped a pair of doubles, the second setting up the winning run, and Joel Polanco was 2-for-4 with a solo homer.

Jesse Rasner (1-0) earned the win after pitching a scoreless top of the 11th. Ironbirds starter Tyler Sexton pitched six strong innings, giving up four hits and a walk with six strikeouts and allowing just one run.

via Spikes clipped in extras – Sports | Centre Daily Times – State College, PA | Penn State, Nittany Lions, weather, news, jobs, homes, apartments, real estate.

Another tight pitcher’s duel spilled over into extra innings Friday night as it took 11 innings for the Aberdeen IronBirds to beat the State College Spikes 3-2 in yet another thriller in front of a record 6,897 at Ripken Stadium. With Cal Ripken, Jr. and Orioles Director of Scouting Joe Jordan in attendance, catcher Austin Rauch’s single to deep left-center field was the difference maker, scoring pinch-runner Zach Moore from third base on the night of the opening ceremonies of the Cal Ripken World Series.

via IronBirds Prevail in 11, 3-2 : The Dagger | Harford County News With an Edge.

LOWELL, Mass. — State College made an abrupt ninth-inning rally Wednesday but couldn’t score enough runs to end a four-game losing streak as the Spikes fell 6-5 to the Lowell Spinners at LeLacheur Park.

The Spikes (25-28) trailed 6-2 with two outs in the ninth inning before Andy Vasquez crunched a three-run home run, his second of the season, to right field. But Lowell’s Stephen Fox struck out Mel Rojas Jr. to prevent further damage.

The Spinners (15-37) broke open a tight game in the bottom of the seventh. Kolbrin Vitek drove in one run with a triple to left off of reliever Trent Stevenson, then came in to score on an infield single by Jose Iglesias. Brandon Jacobs drove in the third run of the inning with a single to center before Justin Ennis came on to strike out Bryce Brentz and end the inning.

via Spikes drop fourth straight – Sports | Centre Daily Times – State College, PA | Penn State, Nittany Lions, weather, news, jobs, homes, apartments, real estate.

Guy Cipriano

UNIVERSITY PARK — Get two teams together with National League ties and there’s a chance a game can turn small.

That’s fine with the State College Spikes. Some clever shifting of runners and crisp execution helped the Spikes move past .500 with a 2-1 victory over Tri-City on Saturday.

The Spikes (25-24) played a style that made the Pittsburgh Pirates proud. Pitchers Colton Cain, Kevin Decker and Justin Ennis combined for a four-hitter, the defense committed no errors and the offense drove in both runs with the ValleyCat infield in.

“We have just been manufacturing runs real well,” Walker Gourley said. “Our situational hitting has been very good. We have gotten bunts down when we needed to and our baserunning has been good. But, really, our pitching is what’s keeping us in spots to take advantage of what we can get.”

via A small world – Sports | Centre Daily Times – State College, PA | Penn State, Nittany Lions, weather, news, jobs, homes, apartments, real estate.

STATE COLLEGE – Zack Dodson fired five innings of shutout ball, allowing just one walk and no hits to pick up the win as the State College Spikes clinched their first-ever series victory over the Staten Island Yankees with a 4-2 win at Medlar Field at Lubrano Park on Friday night.

Dodson (2-2) faced just one batter over the minimum, with Staten Island (21-23) third baseman Garrison Lassiter the only batter to reach base with a third-inning walk. The left-hander from Natalia, Texas also struck out five in the effort to earn his second professional victory.

via Dodson holds Yankees at bay in win | State College Spikes News.

For the Collegian

Wednesday night’s State College Spikes game was delayed one-hour and 13 minutes, the Spikes offense looked like it thought the game had been cancelled.

The spikes tied a franchise record by recording only one hit against the Staten Island Yankees in a 10-0 loss. Third baseman Kelson Brown was responsible for the lone hit, when he led off the third inning with a single to right field.

“Anytime there’s a delay, you lose your rythym”, said Brown, “You lose your routine, but going in I felt good as normal. I didn’t really notice any big difference. Once it started going downhill, we let it go downhill.”

via Bats go quiet for Spikes in loss to Yankees – The Daily Collegian Online.

JAMESTOWN, N.Y. — No stunning upset was in order this time for the State College Spikes.

The Jamestown Jammers roughed up starter Colton Cain early and put the finishing touches on their 11-3 victory with another offensive outburst against two Spikes’ relievers on Monday at Russell Diethrick Park.

Marcell Ozuna hit a home run and drove in three runs while Noah Perio added four hits and three RBIs as the Jammers collected 14 hits, eight of which went for extra bases.

The duo did most of their damage against Cain, who lasted just two innings.

via Spikes roughed up in Jamestown – Sports | Centre Daily Times – State College, PA | Penn State, Nittany Lions, weather, news, jobs, homes, apartments, real estate.

State College (21-21) mustered two doubles in the first two innings before being held out of the hit column for the remainder of the game. Matt Curry and Chase Lyles provided the two-baggers, with Curry’s nearly scoring Cole White in the first inning. White was tagged out, however, representing the Spikes’ best scoring opportunity until the eighth.

In that inning, Lyles led off and was hit by a pitch. An error by Auburn (15-27) reliever Zach Outman (0-2) trying to retire the lead runner on Miguel Mendez’s sacrifice bunt attempt put runners on first and second with no outs. Kelson Brown then dropped down a sacrifice bunt of his own to move the runners to second and third. After Mel Rojas, Jr. drew a walk, Gift Ngoepe then bounced a grounder up the middle, and Doubledays second baseman Matt Johnson missed a tag before throwing the ball away to allow Lyles and Mendez to score.

via Spikes Get Back On Track With 2-1 Win Over Doubledays – OurSports Central – Independent and Minor League Sports News.

He fouled a pitch off. He took a ball. He took a strike. He fouled two more pitches off. He took another ball. He fouled a pitch off. He watched two pitches miss the strike zone and trotted to first base. State College Spikes catcher Miguel Mendez then matched the feat two innings later.

Those first 18 pitches he saw last Thursday at Wi l l i a m s p o r t showed why Mendez might be ready to graduate from the New York-Penn League.

Finally.

Mendez is one of three players to spend parts of three seasons with the Spikes. The others are Mendez’s friend Andy Vasquez, an infielder who also arrived here in 2008, and Kyle McPherson, who now pitches at full-season West Virginia.

via Swinging away – Sports | Centre Daily Times – State College, PA | Penn State, Nittany Lions, weather, news, jobs, homes, apartments, real estate.

WILLIAMSPORT — The Bowman Field scoreboard depicted emptiness.

Neither the State College Spikes nor the Williamsport Crosscutters scored through six innings. Move over another column, and neither team had a hit.

If Crosscutters first baseman Jeff Cusick didn’t bobble Kyle Saukko’s groundball in the third, the scoreboard would have flashed 21 zeroes when Matt Curry batted to begin the seventh.

But baseball isn’t designed for never-ending zeroes. Maybe that’s why the Spikes’ tidy performance turned ugly during the final three innings.

via Cutters sour Spikes’ no-hit bid – Sports | Centre Daily Times – State College, PA | Penn State, Nittany Lions, weather, news, jobs, homes, apartments, real estate.