State College Spikes� 14,� Auburn Doubledays� 5 (box)
The Spikes wanted in on the hitting fun too.� They posted 15 hits and 14 runs this evening, including a 7-run 2nd inning.� Each batter in the starting line-up had at least one hit, and DH Chase Lyles led the way with 3 hits, including a 2-run home run.� Lyles and RF Adalberto Santos each had 3 RBI.
CF Mel Rojas began the game with a double, and SS Gift Ngoepe followed with a single.� Ngoepe was caught in a run down trying to steal.� Santos walked, and 1B Matt Curry’s sacrifice fly brought in Rojas. � Santos scored on Lyle’s RBI single, but Lyles was out when he tried to advance to second base on the throw in to the plate.
The 7 runs that scored in the 2nd inning all came in after two outs had been recorded.� After a strikeout and a ground out, C Matt Skirving singled, and LF Pat Irvine doubled.� Rojas was intentionally walked to load the bases, but that idea backfired when Ngoepe’s grounder to second was misplayed.� Skirving and Irvine scored on the error, Rojas advanced to third base, and the Spikes had runners on the corners.� Santos brought both those runners in with a triple into left field.� Curry singled, scoring Santos, then Lyles capped the scoring with a 2-run homer.� Spikes up, 9-0.
Santos made it 10-9 in the 6th inning, when his double brought in Irvine, who had walked to lead off the inning.� The Spikes increased the lead by 3 more in the 7th.� With one out, 2B Walker Gourley singled, and moved to second base on a passed ball.� 3B Kelson Brown singled, plating Gourley.� Brown went to second base on a ground out, then scored when Irvine reached on a fielding error.� Rojas singled, putting Irvine on third, and when the Auburn pitcher threw a wild pitch, Irvine raced hom with the 3rd run of the inning and the Spikes’ 13th run of the game.� Irvine’s triple in the top of the 9th, after Brown reached on another fielding error, made it 14-0 in favor of the Spikes.
But sometimes, like in Indy tonight, the big lead can make the pitchers relax too much.� Tyler Waldron earned his first win with 5 shut-out innings, allowing only 2 hits, no walks, with 5 strikeouts.� He retired the first 7 batters he faced in the game, and erased one of the hits with a double play.� Ryan Beckman added 2 more shutout innings.� He loaded the bases in the 6th with a single, a walk, and a hit batter, but ended the inning with a force out.� He worked around a runner who reached on a throwing error to keep Auburn scoreless in the 7th.� Teddy Fallon gave up a walk in the 8th, but kept the scoreless streak going — until the 9th.� That’s when the 14-run lead made for a little too much relaxation.� Fallon loaded the bases with a single, a hit batter, and a walk, with one out.� He struck out the next batter, and like the Spikes had done earlier, Auburn got lucky with a fielding error on a play that should have ended the inning.� One run scored on the fielding error by Ngoepe, then two runs scored on two wild pitches.� After two more walks, Fallon was relieved by Jason Townsend. Townsend loaded the bases with another walk, then gave up a single, before ending the game with a strikeout.� Auburn had scored 5 runs in the inning, all after two outs had been recorded.
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Akron Aeros� 4,� Altoona Curve 1 (box)
The Curve must have used up too many hits in other games — they had only 7 in this game, while the Aeros had 12.� LF Anthony Norman was the only Curve batter with more than one hit (two singles).� The only Curve run scored in the 5th, when RF Miles Durham and Norman hit back-to-back singles, and Durham made it to third on Norman’s.� A wild pitch let Durham score.� The only other time the Curve had more than one runner on base in an inning was the 4th, when both CF Gorkys Hernandez and 2B Josh Harrison also hit back-to-back singles with one out.
Starter Rudy Owens suffered his first loss since early June, and it was not that he pitched horribly.� He gave up 3 runs on 9 hits and 3 walks over 5 innings.� Akron scored their first run in the 1st on 3 singles.� They added lead-off solo home runs in the 4th, the 5th, and the 6th.� The homer in the 6th greeted reliever Mike Dubee, who went on to retire the next three batters in that inning.� He loaded the bases with a double, a single, and a walk to the first three batters he faced in the 7th, then got out of the jam on his own, with a strikeout and a double play.� Derek Hankins pitched a 1-2-3 9th inning for the Curve.
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Tampa Yankees� 11,� Bradenton Pirates� 4 (box)
The Marauders were also on the short end while their opponents racked up the hits and runs.� RF Robbie Grossman had 3 hits, including a double, and 2B Jose De Los Santos singled three times.
The two teams traded runs in the 3rd inning.� De Los Santos singled, stole second, and scored on Grossman’s single.� The Yankees scored in the bottom of the inning on a hit batter, a stolen base, and an RBI single.� Starter Brian Leach had allowed three singles, a triple, a walk, and hit two batters in the first 4 innings, but only that one run had scored.� Leach ran into trouble in the 5th.� Three singles and a double with one out brought in three runs, and Leach was relieved by Duke Welker. Welker took over with one out and one on, but he walked the next batter, then gave up a 3-run homer, to give the Yankees a 7-1 lead.
Welker came back out for the 6th inning, and gave up two walks and two doubles for two more runs.� He was relieved by Tom Boleska, who finished the 6th, but surrendered two more runs in the 7th (both unearned) on an error by Grossman, then a double and a single.� Tyler Cox pitched the bottom of the 8th and retired the Yankees in order.
The Yankees were leading 11-1 going into the top of the 9th, and they too fell victim to the relaxing phenomenon.� With former Pirate John Van Benschoten on the mound, Jose De Los Santos led off with a single.� Robbie Grossman doubled, scoring De Los Santos, and LF Quincy Latimore knocked a 2-run homer.� It was not nearly enough, of course, and Van Benschoten ended the game with a strikeout and a ground out.
