BATAVIA, N.Y. — The State College Spikes got another strong pitching performance from Matt Benedict, along with some relief help, in a 2-1 win over the Batavia Muckdogs on Monday night at Dwyer Stadium.
Benedict (4-3) did not allow a run and only gave up three hits and a walk over five innings. Benedict, who struck out two, has surrendered just three earned runs over 20 innings in his last four starts for the Spikes (27-41), dropping his ERA to 3.93.
Kevin Kleis, Robert Kilcrease and Emmanuel De Leon combined to work the final four innings, giving up four hits and one run. De Leon picked up his fifth save of the season after working the ninth inning.
State College managed to crack through the work of Corey Baker (5-2), who gave up six hits and both runs, though only one was earned. The right-hander, a fourth-round draft pick out of Pittsburgh earlier this year for the St. Louis Cardinals, had not allowed an earned run in any of his starts this summer. Three Muckdog relievers combined to keep the Spikes hitless over the final three innings.
A wild inning by Baker led to the first Spikes run. Rodarrick Jones led off the fourth by getting hit by a pitch, taking second on a wild pitch and scoring on a Matt Skirving single.
With two out in the sixth, State College picked up its second run, with Skirving racing all the way to second on a throwing error by third baseman Daniel Stienstra and scoring on Chris Lashmet’s single.
Batavia cut the lead in half when Vance Albitz ripped his second double of the game to lead off the eighth against Kilcrease, then scored when Stienstra struck out but reached first on a dropped third strike with catcher Skirving throwing the ball into right field. A walk put another runner on base with one out, but a fly out and strikeout helped Kilcrease get out of the jam.
The Muckdogs put together another threat in the bottom of the ninth, opening the inning with a walk and Reggie Williams single. But Virgil Hill, attempting a sacrifice bunt, popped up to De Leon, Albitz hit a fly ball to right to get a runner to third and Stienstra grounded out to third baseman Lashmet to end the game.
The teams meet again tonight in Batavia before they return for two more games at Medlar Field at Lubrano Park, the Spikes’ final home games of the season.
