UNIVERSITY PARK, Pa. – Andrew Summerville and Robbie Gordon combined to shut out the Williamsport Crosscutters on just two hits and give the State College Spikes a 2-0 win on Friday night at Medlar Field at Lubrano Park.
(Photo: Robbie Gordon. Photo courtesy of State College Spikes)
With the win, the Spikes (33-30) stayed within three games of the New York-Penn League Pinckney Division lead held by Mahoning Valley. State College has 13 games remaining on the 2017 NYPL regular season schedule.
A crowd of 4,065 fans was also thrilled by the appearance of Hall of Fame pro wrestler Hacksaw Jim Duggan. “Hacksaw” threw out a ceremonial first pitch, judged a contest of fans belting out his signature “Hoooooooo” call, and signed autographs on the concourse while meeting and greeting fans throughout the night. Duggan’s appearance was presented by Nuts For You and Comcast Spotlight.
Summerville (4-0) yielded just one hit, a first-inning single by Cole Stobbe, and two walks over seven innings of work. The Cardinals’ 2017 12th-round draft choice out of Stanford struck out a career-high seven batters in the effort, and lowered his ERA to 1.63, good for second-best in the NYPL.
Gordon (2) then gave up just one hit and struck out four batters for a six-out save to finish out the Spikes’ third shutout victory of the year.
State College jumped out in front in the first inning when Edwin Figuera singled and came in to score on Bryce Denton’s sacrifice fly to right field. The Spikes tacked on a run in the sixth when Yariel Gonzalez notched his league-leading 32nd RBI of the season with a single to bring in Denton.
Figuera collected three hits during the game, including a double.
Williamsport (29-31) starter Kyle Young (5-2) allowed two runs on five hits and a walk while striking out four batters over 5 2/3 innings, but took the loss in a battle of NYPL All-Star left-handed pitchers.
Cole Stephen delivered the only other Crosscutters’ hit with a single in the eighth inning.
Saturday, the Spikes continue their series against the Crosscutters with the second game of a three-game set at Medlar Field at Lubrano Park. The 7:05 p.m. matchup will feature right-hander Johan Oviedo (1-2) on the mound for State College, while right-hander Julian Garcia (3-3) gets the ball for Williamsport.
CURVE SHUT OUT BY BAYSOX
CURVE, Pa. – The Bowie Baysox shut out the Altoona Curve, 2-0, behind a strong start from David Hess on Friday night at Peoples Natural Gas Field.
Hess (Win, 11-8) worked through a career-high eight scoreless innings and allowed just one run, striking out five.
The Curve (69-61) dropped to 4-13 in the season series against the Baysox (68-62) and had their lead in the Western Division cut to one game with 10 games to play in the regular season. However, the Curve’s “magic number” to clinch a playoff spot was trimmed to four after a loss by Akron at Erie.
The Baysox got on the board in the second inning. With the bases loaded with two outs, Erick Salcedo hit an infield RBI single to give Bowie a 1-0 lead.
In the ninth, the Orioles Double-A affiliate added an insurance run. D.J. Stewart led off with a double and eventually scored on a sacrifice fly from Austin Wynns.
Altoona collected just two hits in the loss and had four total base runners.
The loss snapped the Curve’s season-high five game winning streak and the club was shutout for the seventh time this season.
Curve starter J.T. Brubaker (Loss, 7-5) allowed just one earned run on two hits in six innings, striking out seven. Austin Coley pitched a scoreless seventh inning and Johnny Hellweg tossed a clean eighth inning in his Curve debut. Tate Scioneaux allowed the run in the ninth inning.
Scott McGough (Save, 12) took over for Hess and pitched a scoreless ninth inning to close out the game.
Altoona will continue their series against the Baysox with game three on Saturday. The Curve will send left-hander Brandon Waddell (3-3, 3.88) to the mound, while Bowie will counter with lefty John Means (9-8, 4.24). First pitch at Peoples Natural Gas Field is scheduled for 6 p.m.
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