STATE COLLEGE - Kelson Brown made two sensational defensive plays early, then tripled in the go-ahead runs in the seventh inning to help the State College Spikes to a come-from-behind, 4-3 win over the Hudson Valley Renegades in a Fourth of July afternoon matchup at Medlar Field at Lubrano Park.
Brown's contributions started on the defensive end in the fourth, when he made a diving stop and throw from his knees to retire Geno Glynn of Hudson Valley (6-10) in the fourth. The Linfield College alum then fully extended to dive and snare a liner off the bat of Robby Price in the seventh. Brown made both plays at second base, where he was making his first appearance of the season.
In the bottom of the seventh, Brown then followed Matt Curry's double and Justin Bencsko's walk with a triple to the right field corner to plate both of them. After an intentional walk, Kyle Saukko delivered a sacrifice fly to deep center field to score Brown and cap the rally.
State College (10-7) then added another run in the eighth, when Curry doubled and Gerlis Rodriguez knocked him in with a sacrifice fly. The Renegades would not go away easily, though, and scored two in the ninth inning to pull within one. Hudson Valley stranded the tying run on first, however, sealing the Spikes' win.
Mitch Fienemann (2-1) picked up the win after allowing one run on one hit and one walk. Fienemann also struck out one on the afternoon. Jason Townsend collected his first save in the professional ranks by pitching the eighth and ninth, allowing two unearned runs on one hit and one walk while striking out one.
Saturday
Spikes 8, Williamsport 2
STATE COLLEGE - The State College Spikes received a solo homer from Adalberto Santos early, but it was a five-run seventh inning that put away the Williams-port Crosscutters and earned the Spikes a series sweep in an 8-2 win on Saturday night at Historic Bowman Field.
Walker Gourley had the backbreaking base hit for State College (9-7) in the big seventh inning, knocking in two runs with a single to right. Santos and new Spike Matt Curry also drove in runs in the frame as State College notched all five runs with two outs.
Santos' fourth-inning home run, his second of the year, opened up the Spikes' scoring and tied the game, 1-1. The Oregon State product finished the game 3-for-5 with three runs batted in, increasing his streak of consecutive games on base to 13.
Miguel Mendez also put together a multi-hit performance, going 2-for-4.
