STATE COLLEGE - Alex Dickerson launched his third home run of the year and Taylor Lewis tied the State College Spikes' single-season triples record, but it took Junior Sosa's RBI single in the ninth inning to give the Spikes a 4-3 win over the Batavia Muckdogs on Wednesday night at Medlar Field at Lubrano Park.
Dickerson's blast off, a towering shot over the right-center field wall off of Batavia (35-35) starter Jose Almarante, gave State College (28-43) a 1-0 lead in the first inning. The Spikes added another run in the second when Roderrick Jones singled with two outs and Alex Fuselier doubled to bring him home.
Spikes' starter Mike Jefferson kept it a 2-0 game through five innings, as he allowed no runs on two hits and a walk while striking out one over that time. Jefferson also forced four popouts to Dickerson over the course of his outing.
The Muckdogs notched their first run in the sixth inning. Vance Albitz led off the stanza with a walk, then advanced to second on Garrett Wittels's single down the right-field line. After a wild pitch, Romulo Ruiz hit a sacrifice fly to right field that scored Albitz, but Fuselier threw out Wittels after he wandered too far off of second base.
Lewis then extended the Spikes' lead to 3-1 in the seventh inning with his three-base hit to right field to bring in Jones. The outfielder joins Aaron Baker in 2009 and Adalberto Santos in 2010 as the only State College players with seven triples in a single season.
In the ninth though, Batavia mounted a rally. David Medina singled with one out, and then Philip Cerreto followed with another base hit. Virgil Hill subsequently grounded into a fielder's choice for the second out, but Reggie Williams tripled to center field to score two runs and tie the game.
The Spikes would have the final response, however. Fuselier walked with one out and stole second base to set things up for Sosa's two-out, walk-off base hit in the bottom of the inning to send State College home a winner.
Emmanuel De Leon (2-2), who was tagged with a blown save after the two Batavia runs in the ninth, ended up with the win. De Leon allowed three hits in his only inning on the mound.
Batavia reliever Ethan Cole (1-1) took the loss after pitching the ninth. Cole recorded one of his two outs via strikeout. Almarante made his longest outing of the year in the start, going seven innings and yielding three runs, two of them earned, on six hits and a walk.
Thursday, the Spikes take the field for their 2011 home finale at Medlar Field at Lubrano Park as they face the Muckdogs for the final time this season. State College will have right-hander Nick Kingham (5-2) on the mound. The right-hander from Las Vegas, NV holds the fourth-best ERA in the New York-Penn League at 2.32. Kingham has also gone at least five innings while allowing one or no runs in each of his last nine starts. Batavia will have left-hander Ryan Sheriff (0-1) on the mound.
