State College Spikes hang on to top Staten Island Yankees, reach New York-Penn League championship series

The State College Spikes are heading back to the championship series in the New York-Penn League playoffs.

With a little back-and-forth drama over the final innings, the Spikes dispatched the Staten Island Yankees 6-5 Friday night at Medlar Field at Lubrano Park.

“A team like this, as good as they are, tests you to the limit,” Spikes manager Johnny Rodriguez said. “Leading to the championship game, we’ve been tested.”

Ryan McCarvel’s two-run home run in a four-run seventh inning provided the deciding run.

State College, who had a 6-1 record in playoff elimination games all-time, will face Hudson Valley in the championship series starting Sunday. The Spikes will play in the title series for the third time in four years, looking to add to the 2014 league crown.

Tommy Edman and Andy Young were the big producers at the top of the order. Edman singled twice, scoring both times, while Young also had two hits and three RBIs.

“All year long,” Rodriguez said of his table-setters in the order. “Young is not your typical two-hole hitter, but … he can hit a right-hander same as he can hit a left-hander and he’s got power.”

The Spikes cashed in on their first two hits of the game. Edman hit a two-out, broken-bat single, and Andy Young followed with a double to the left-center field gap to bring Edman around all the way from first.

The Spikes then manufactured a run in the fifth thanks to Edman’s speed. He hit a sharp grounder up the middle and beat the throw for an infield single, stole second with the throw bouncing off him into left field to let him trot to third, then scored on Young’s fly ball to left.

The lead was solid until a bit of a roller-coaster ride began in the seventh.

The Yankees got on the board on a Dom Thompson-Williams RBI single, a Nick Solak RBI double and a Timmy Robinson RBI single to take a 3-2 lead.

The Spikes regained the edge in the bottom of the inning. Mick Fennell drew a four-pitch leadoff walk, stole second and raced home on Young’s bloop single to shallow right. Young moved up on a ground out, then he scurried home on Jeremy Martinez’s single to right. That set the stage for McCarvel’s rocket to the picnic tables in left field, his 11th of the summer.

“I threw (batting practice) to him today and I felt he was going to come out big,” Rodriguez said of McCarvel, who was battling a thumb injury. “He can’t take his big swing because of the finger. So he’s strong enough, he’s learning something with it. He put the barrel on it, he’s strong enough to hit it out.”

Staten Island battled back again in the top of the eighth on a leadoff triple for Kendall Coleman, an RBI single for Angel Aguilar and an RBI double for Solak to cut the margin to one.

In the ninth, Robinson drew a leadoff walk and was sacrificed to second as the game-tying run, but that was as far as he got as a groundout finished the game and ignited a celebration on the field and in the club house.

On the hill

Spikes: Starter Carson Cross did his job with five shutout innings, scattering four hits and two walks.

Relievers Gerwuins Velazco and Eric Carter combined to strike out five over 2 1/3 innings, but also allowed five hits, five runs and three walks. Carter still got the win.

Rodriguez felt the Yankee bats couldn’t be kept quiet all night.

“They’re the second-best hitting team we’ve faced, and I felt they had an edge over us,” Rodriguez said. “… They didn’t chase, so guess what? You had to throw strikes, and we did, and they hit it hard.”

Brady Bowen took care of the final five outs for the save.

Yankees: Chad Martin pitched two innings of relief and took the loss. He struck out the side in the sixth but got knocked around with the four-run seventh.

On Deck

The championship series begins at 4 p.m. Sunday at Dutchess Stadium. Game 2 and, if necessary, Game 3 will be played in State College at 7:05 p.m. Monday and Tuesday. Right-handed pitcher Steven Farinaro (9-1) will get the start for the Spikes. The Renegades have not named a starter.

This story was originally published September 9, 2016 at 10:39 PM with the headline "State College Spikes hang on to top Staten Island Yankees, reach New York-Penn League championship series."