State College Spikes strike back against Williamsport Crosscutters in ninth

By Guy Cipriano

WILLIAMSPORT — Tony Sanchez still has a long path to fulfill the expectations attached to being the fourth overall pick of a Major League Baseball Draft. Still, it’s hard to envision a more memorable start to a professional career.

Sanchez hit a game-winning single with one out during the ninth inning to help the State College Spikes defeat the Williamsport Crosscutters 4-3 on Saturday at Bowman Field. The hit came in the second at-bat of Sanchez’s professional career and scored Jose Hernandez as the Spikes won a game they trailed 2-0 after five innings. The Spikes also won one night after suffering a 15-2 loss.

“That was an awesome debut,” Sanchez said. “I just wanted to get a hit for the team and get a ‘W’ for us. The nerves were a little high and emotions were up there. I felt pretty good.”

Sanchez replaced catcher Miguel Mendez in the bottom of the sixth. The Spikes took a 3-2 lead by recording four hits in the top of the inning. Williamsport quickly tied the game when Jeremy Barnes hit a one-out homer in the bottom of the inning.

Sanchez grounded to second base in his first at-bat during the seventh. He received a chance to hit again as Hernandez smacked a one-out single off Jordan Ellis. Crosscutters manager Chris Truby ordered his infield in and Hernandez advanced to third base when Kyle Saukko bounced a ball past third baseman Anthony Hewitt into left field.

Sanchez displayed an aggressive approach against Ellis, ripping a first-pitch fastball into center field. The Pittsburgh Pirates expect many similar hits from Sanchez, who batted .346 as a junior this past season at Boston College.

“I got a good swing on it,” said Sanchez, who arrived in State College on Saturday morning. “That’s my approach all the time to hunt fastball and he gave it to me. I was trying to hit a fly ball and I hit a line drive.”

The single didn’t produce comfortable gratification. The Crosscutters recorded two hits off Mike Williams in the bottom of the ninth, including a bloop single by Evan Porter that hit shortstop Brett Willemburg’s glove. But Williams recorded the victory by coaxing David Doss and Carl Uhl into fly outs.

The Spikes won a game that was delayed 1 hour, 35 minutes by pestering rains. When the teams finally took the field at 8:40 p.m., two 19-year-old pitchers — State College’s Quinton Miller and Williamsport’s Jonathan Pettibone — made their New York-Penn League debuts.

Miller, a 2008 20th-round pick from Shawnee (N.J.) High School, allowed three hits and two runs in the first before settling down. He allowed two more hits as he ended his portion of a four-inning piggyback with Diego Moreno by tossing three scoreless innings.

“That first inning I got the first-time jitters out and I just tried to settle down a little bit,” Miller said. “Once I got that first inning over with, I focused on settling down.”

Pettibone, a 2008 third-round pick from Esperanza (Calif.) High School, was even better. He allowed two hits in five scoreless innings.

The Spikes touched reliever Reginal Simon early in the sixth as Willemburg led off the inning with a bunt single. He advanced to second on a wild pitch, reached third on a passed ball and scored on Justin Byler’s line single to left field. Byler scored on David Rubinstein’s double to left field. Rubinstein then scored on Matt Payne’s sacrifice fly to right field.

Hernandez hit a two-out double during the inning, but was stranded at second base. Hernandez, a 23rd-round pick from Texas-San Antonio, went 3-for-4.

“We took it one pitch a time,” he said. “They scored and we came back and scored. We took a blow and gave a blow. We pitched well and got some timely hits.”

The game included some sparkling outfield defense.

Williamsport right fielder Leandro Castro made a sliding catch to take a potential extra-base hit away from Hernandez in the third. Three innings later, Rubinstein made a diving catch in right-center on a ball hit by Castro. Rubinstein’s catch saved a run because Barnes homered to left field one pitch later.

The home was only run allowed by Moreno, who went three innings. Williams allowed two hits in two scoreless innings.

NOTES: The Pittsburgh Pirates have agreed to terms with infielder Brock Holt, a ninth-round pick from Rice. Holt is expected to begin his professional career with the Spikes. Holt hit .348 with 12 homers and 43 RBIs as a junior this past spring. …Sanchez will start today. He will remain with the team until next Wednesday before reporting to full-season West Virginia.