From staff reports
STATE COLLEGE - The State College Spikes came back up off the deck in the eighth inning, responding to the Jamestown Jammers taking the lead in the top half of the frame by scoring five runs of their own and taking a 6-2 win on Friday night at Medlar Field at Lubrano Park.
State College (18-30) came back twice in the game, which started out with sparse offense from both teams. Spikes starter Nick Kingham retired the first seven batters he faced and allowed only one unearned run on five hits while striking out three over five innings on the mound. Jamestown (26-22) scored that run in the third inning when Jabduan Morales crossed the plate on a dropped catch error at first by Alex Dickerson that would have completed a double play.
The Spikes would tie the game in the fifth inning, however, to take Kingham off the undeserved hook. After Jammers starter Helpi Reyes held State College without a hit over the first four innings, Kirk Singer produced a one-out single, followed by two more singles from Wes Freeman and Junior Sosa. Sosa's hit brought in the tying run and made it a new ballgame.
In the eighth inning, things started to look dire for the Spikes. After reliever Joan Montero retired the first two batters of the frame, he walked a batter and gave up a base hit, giving way to Josh Poytress (2-2). Poytress, who had allowed only two walks over his last 12 1/3 innings before Friday, suddenly walked two batters and threw a wild pitch which scored Brian McConkey with the go-ahead run to make it 2-1, Jammers. The lefty settled down to get the final out on a strikeout, though, to keep the score that way.
State College replied to the Jammers with the first six runners reaching base off of reliever Chase Wier (3-1), though. Wier, who held a 0.86 ERA through his first 13 appearances of the season, yielded a base hit to Alex Dickerson and a walk to Chris Lashmet to start things off. After Matt Skirving reached on a sacrifice bunt when Wier's throw did not beat Dickerson at third base, Derek Trent tied the game with a single to right that still left the bases loaded with no outs.
Ashley Ponce went on to drop down a bunt single on a squeeze play to score pinch runner Alex Fuselier and give the Spikes the lead. An error, an RBI single by Freeman, and a bases-loaded walk drawn by Sosa would add three more runs to complete the State College rally. Emmanuel De Leon then pitched a perfect ninth inning to seal the victory.
The win was the Spikes' sixth in their last seven games, and their fourth straight home victory.
Wier was charged with all five of the Spikes' eighth-inning runs on four hits and a walk while recording only one out in the loss.
Saturday, the Spikes and Jammers finish their two-game set at Medlar Field at Lubrano Park before they head to Russell Diethrick Park for two more meetings. The 7:05 p.m. matchup will feature right-hander Trent Stevenson (0-0) on the mound for State College, while Jamestown will send right-hander Dejai Oliver (0-1) to the hill.
