State College Spikes’ rally falls short in 12-inning game against Auburn Doubledays

Make errors and give up a six-run inning, and you should expect to lose.

The State College Spikes had other ideas.

Trailing by eight runs heading to the bottom of the eighth — the second time in the game they were down by eight — the Spikes rallied all the way back to force extra innings.

The Auburn Doubledays spoiled the party, however, with Kameron Esthay blasting a solo home run in the top of the 12th inning for a 13-12 victory Sunday night at Medlar Field at Lubrano Park.

“It wasn’t a game that you draw up on the chalkboard, by no stretch of the imagination,” Spikes manager Joe Kruzel said. “It’s just one of those things, at one point we had no chance of winning and all of a sudden we’re controlling our destiny.”

State College’s comeback began with a two-run home run for Ricardo Bautista in the eighth.

Then came the dramatic ninth.

Dennis Ortega singled in a run to start it. With two outs, a bases-loaded walk plated a run, Imeldo Diaz had an RBI single and a wild pitch scored another before Zach Kirtley roped a two-run double to the left-center gap to tie the game.

“Hit it in the worst part of the ballpark,” Kirtley said. “It was awesome. It was an awesome hit whether it went out or not.”

The ball hit the warning track and bounced off the wall just to the right of the 410-foot sign.

“I thought I had a chance,” Kirtley said. “I still had to hustle out of the (batter’s) box just in case, but man that felt really good. Too bad it didn’t go out.”

State College also had the winning run on third in the 10th inning and could not get the run home.

Kirtley had a pair of two-run doubles, Scott Hurst was 3 for 4, and Josh Lopez had a pair of hits and two RBIs for State College. Bautista nearly had another homer, doubling off the top of the wall in right. His homer was a 394-foot rocket blast to right-center.

Seven Spikes pitchers combined to strike out 15. Andrew Summerville took care of six of those punch-outs in three innings, undeterred by an 8-0 deficit when he got to the mound.

“Nothing changes in my approach whether we’re up by eight or down by eight,” Summerville said. “Each time I go out there I’ve got a chance to prove something.”

The large deficit did not deter the rest of the team, either.

“It’s tough when you’re down by eight,” Kirtley said. “Every player gave it their best at-bat every single inning.”

Every batter for the Doubledays (7-13) but one had a hit, with 14 total. Randy Encarnacion and Branden Boggetto each had two hits, including a double and two RBIs.

Down 8-0, the Spikes rallied to within 8-4 after Kirtley’s two-run double and an RBI single for Lopez in the sixth, followed by an RBI groundout for Lopez in the seventh.

But the Doubledays added four more runs in the eighth, assisted by another Spikes error on what would have been the third out before any of them scored.

In all, nine of the 12 Auburn runs were unearned.

“That’s a concern, there’s no doubt about it,” Kruzel said. “But there are other things that add to that. There are some things that we’re going to have to be a little more conscious of and understand the importance of all that stuff.”

Forgettable inning

Auburn took control of the game with a six-run third inning, assisted by several Spikes miscues. With runners on first and second and one out, a ground ball to first baseman Matt Davis was thrown into left field when he tried to start a double play to bring in a run. The next batter, Encarnacion, hit a high foul ball that Davis misjudged and overran, with the Doubledays right fielder drilling the next pitch to the right field corner for an RBI double. A little later, Spikes starting pitcher Paul Balestrieri struck out Omar Meregildo for what would have been the third out, but the pitch sailed to the backstop to score a run and get Meregildo to first.

Reliever Noel Gonzalez then unfurled another run-scoring wild pitch. Boggetto’s two-run double capped the scoring.

Play of the Game

The Doubledays scored a pair of first-inning runs, but it could have been much worse after they loaded the bases with no outs. Jake Scudder then hit a sharp ground ball that third baseman Evan Mendoza snared with a dive before stepping on the bag and throwing to first for a double play.

Play of the Game 2

In the top of the 12th, with two outs and runners on first and second, Encarnacion hit a sharp infield single. Jeyner Baez, running from second and thinking the ball got through to the outfield, rounded third but was chased down by shortstop Edwin Figuera for the final out to keep the Spikes within one.

By the numbers

The marathon game that was the highest scoring in Spikes history for combined runs lasted 4 hours, 46 minutes, saw 479 pitches, 14 pitchers used, 29 hits and 20 runners left on base, seven wild pitches, three hit batters and 16 walks.

Next up

State College at Tri-City, 7:05 p.m. Tuesday: After spending so much time at home, the Spikes will have some full suitcases Tuesday. After taking the day off Monday, they start an eight-game stretch on the road, with 11 of the next 12 away from home. Right-hander Anthony Shew (2-1, 2.08 ERA) will be on the mound for the Spikes. The ValleyCats’ starter has not been announced. The next home game is against Williamsport on July 19.

This story was originally published July 9, 2017 at 11:11 PM with the headline "State College Spikes’ rally falls short in 12-inning game against Auburn Doubledays."