JAMESTOWN, N.Y. - Alex Dickerson capped the highest-scoring night of the season for the State College Spikes with the fifth grand slam in team history, and Ryan Hafner delivered six shutout innings on the mound in a 14-1 win over the Jamestown Jammers on Monday night at Medlar Field at Lubrano Park.
Dickerson's blast on an 0-2 pitch in the ninth inning enabled the Indiana product and 2011 third-round draft pick to join Miles Durham, Calvin Anderson, Kyle Morgan and Chase Lyles as Spikes (20-31) to have hit a slam in the past six years. The bases-clearing round-tripper was only the end, however, as State College piled up runs at a steady pace throughout the game, starting with Chris Lashmet's solo home run to give the Spikes a 1-0 lead in the second inning.
Kirk Singer's RBI single and a Jamestown (27-24) error plated two more runs in the second to put State College up 3-0, and Matt Skirving's RBI single in the third inning gave the Spikes a four-run lead. In the sixth, Wes Freeman drove in the first of three runs to make it 5-0 with a single.
The Spikes then blew up for four runs in the seventh, with an error and an RBI groundout by Ashley Ponce setting up a two-run double from Freeman to make it 9-0. All five of the Spikes' remaining runs came in the ninth inning, as Jorge Sosa was hit by a pitch one batter before Dickerson wrote his name in the Spikes record book.
Skirving ended the game 3-for-6, and collected his 13th double of the year.
Meanwhile, Hafner (2-3) sparkled on the mound, keeping the Jammers off the board on just two hits over six innings, his longest outing as a professional. Hafner retired the first ten batters he faced and struck out a total of four on the evening to notch the second victory of his pro career.
Stetson Allie, the Pirates' 2010 second-round draft pick, also appeared for State College in the seventh inning, walking one but allowing no hits and no runs in his only frame on the mound.
The previously unbeaten Josh Hodges (5-1) was tagged for five runs, four of them earned, on nine hits over six innings in the start for Jamestown. Hodges also struck out two.
Jamestown's lone run scored in the eighth inning on back-to-back doubles by Nestor Castillo and Marquise Cooper. In the ninth inning, though, the depleted Jammers pitching staff turned to outfielder Rand Smith to record the final three outs of the game, which he did on a strikeout and a double play.
Tuesday, the Spikes return home to Medlar Field at Lubrano Park to begin a three-game series against the Aberdeen IronBirds (Baltimore Orioles) with a 7:05 p.m. matchup. State College is slated to send left-hander Mike Jefferson (1-1) to the mound, while Aberdeen is scheduled to go with right-hander Parker Bridwell (2-4).
