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WILLIAMSPORT - Jaden Collura hit his first home run of the MLB Draft League season and T.J. Salvaggio homered for the second straight night to provide some much-needed insurance as the State College Spikes clinched a series sweep with a 6-5 victory over the Williamsport Crosscutters on Thursday night at Journey Bank Ballpark at Historic Bowman Field.
The win was the Spikes' (15-18 2nd Half) third straight one-run victory over the Crosscutters (15-17 2nd Half), and dampened Williamsport's hopes of mounting a comeback in the MLB Draft League Second Half standings. The Crosscutters are now eight games back of first-place West Virginia with 12 games remaining in the season.
Collura's solo shot went off the foul pole in right field to lead off the seventh to give the Spikes a 4-1 lead, which extended to 5-1 when Cole Caruso drove in Salvaggio later on in the same frame.
However, the Crosscutters rallied to score three runs in the seventh, putting the score at 5-4 when Salvaggio drilled the first pitch he saw from reliever Davis Blair 381 feet over the left-center field wall in the eighth to bump the lead back to two runs and bump his home run count to three for the season.
The insurance came in handy when Marcus Brodil cleared the right field fence to the tune of 391 feet in the ninth for a solo shot to draw Williamsport within one run before Dylan Cheeley struck out T.J. Racherbaumer two batters later to end the game.
Spikes starter Carter Holjes (2-2) tossed five innings of one-run ball to earn the win. Holjes allowed four hits and four walks while striking out eight batters, giving him a 63-to-15 strikeout-to-walk ratio over 44 2/3 innings spanning both halves of the MLB Draft League season.
Williamsport starter Reilly Shafer (1-5) took the loss after being charged with three runs, two of them earned, on five hits, four walks and two hit batsmen while notching three strikeouts over 5 1/3 innings.