STATE COLLEGE - Luis Heredia delivered five one-run innings on the mound for the State College Spikes on Friday night, but that one run proved to be the difference as the Spikes were held to three hits in a 1-0 defeat at the hands of the Jamestown Jammers in the shortest nine-inning professional game ever played at Medlar Field at Lubrano Park.
Heredia (3-2) retired the first six batters he faced before allowing leadoff hits in the third, fourth and fifth innings. Jamestown (28-35) left fielder Cody Keefer's double in the fourth was the hit that allowed the Jammers to put the lone run of the game on the board. Keefer advanced to third base after his extra-base hit on a sacrifice bunt by Anthony Gomez, and then scored on a sacrifice fly to left field by Viosergy Rosa.
During his five innings on the hill, Heredia yielded a total of three hits and struck out four batters. The loss was Heredia's first of the year at Medlar Field.
Jammers starter Mason Hope (3-3) stifled State College (30-34) on offense for most of the evening, yielding just two fourth-inning hits, both with two outs. D.J. Crumlich and Jacob Stallings provided those singles, but were stranded on base to end the Spikes' biggest threat of the game.
Hope also struck out nine batters, a season high for any Spikes opponent, and walked a batter. Jheyson Manzueta (1) collected his first save of the season by finishing the game with two scoreless frames. Crumlich picked up his second two-out hit of the game in the ninth inning to give State College hope, but Manzueta struck out Stallings to end the game.
The game's duration of 1 hour, 49 minutes beat the old record by 10 minutes.
Lance Breedlove and Josh Smith gave the Spikes quality relief after Heredia's exit. Breedlove hurled three scoreless innings in which he gave up two hits and struck out one. Smith tossed a shutout ninth in which he allowed one hit and struck out two batters.
Saturday, the Spikes take on the Jammers in the second game of their three-game series. Right-hander Clay Holmes (4-3), the 19-year-old who is among the league leaders in both earned run average (2.19) and opponents' batting average (.164), gets the ball for State College in the 7:05 p.m. matchup. Jamestown will go with right-hander Drew Steckenrider (1-1), the Marlins' 2012 eighth-round draft choice, on the mound.
