STATEN ISLAND, N.Y. — The State College Spikes first glimpse at the New York-Penn League’s best team wasn’t a pleasant one.
The Staten Island Yankees had 16 hits and cracked two homers as they thumped the Spikes 9-2 on Wednesday at Richmond County Bank Ballpark.
The Yankees became the league’s first 20-win team with the victory. The Yankees enter today’s game, which begins at 11 a.m., with a 20-4 mark. The Spikes are 7-19. Staten Island scored in six of its eight offensive innings. The Yankees did most of their damage against Josh Poytress, who allowed eight hits and six runs in four innings.
Casey Stevenson hit a two-run homer off Poytress in the fourth. Zach Wilson added a two-run homer off Poytress in the seventh.
The Spikes offense sputtered, collecting five hits against four Staten Island pitchers.
Videl Nuno replaced starter Richard Martinez, who pitched two scoreless innings, and earned the win by allowing four hits and one earned run in five innings.
Kirk Singer singled and scored on Chris Lashmet’s double during the fourth inning. The Spikes added their second run when Staten Island committed two errors in the sixth.
Leadoff hitter Mason Williams went 4-for-5 with a triple and scored three runs for the Yankees. Stevenson went 3-for-4 and scored twice. Wilson, Angelo Gumbs, Shane Brown and Robert Rinard had two hits each.
Spikes starter Jordan Cooper, a 23rd-round draft pick from Kentucky, started and allowed five hits and one earned run in three innings. Cooper remained in the game despite a one-hour weather delay during the second inning. Cooper and Poytress combined for eight strikeouts in seven innings. Cliff Archibald allowed three hits and a run during the eighth.
The Spikes will send a NY-PL veteran to the mound today as Zack Dodson makes his first rehabilitation start. Dodson, a 2009 fourth-round draft pick who spent last summer with the Spikes, is making his first start since suffering a hand injury while playing at full-season West Virginia. Dodson is 2-3 with a 3.12 ERA in seven starts for the Power.
