State College Spikes overcome early deficit to defeat Auburn

The State College Spikes came alive in the middle innings and never let up Monday as they ended the night with a 9-2 victory over the Auburn Doubledays at Medlar Field at Lubrano Park.

State College finished with 15 hits — from seven of its nine batters — and its pitching staff combined for 11 strikeouts in the solid team effort.

The Spikes fell behind 2-0 but started to rally in the bottom of the fourth. They cut the deficit to 2-1 there and then seized the lead with a three-run fifth inning. From there, they cruised.

With the win, State College improves to 22-17 while the Doubledays fall to 15-25.

NYPL Player of the Week

Evan Mendoza honored: The Spikes’ third baseman learned Monday afternoon that he was the league’s player of the week from July 24-30. The honor wasn’t a big surprise; he batted .500 (13 of 26) during that span and finished with five runs and five RBIs. He did not play Monday.

Turning point

Three-run fifth inning: The Spikes took the 4-2 lead in this frame, so it’s pretty obvious this was the turning point. Two singles, a triple and an error led to those three runs — and the throwing error on Auburn third baseman Omar Meregildo proved especially costly. Spikes catcher Dennis Ortega led off with a single, and Caleb Lopes then reached base after Meregildo’s mishap. Edwin Figuera drove in a run on a soft line drive to left, and Scott Hurst then tripled to drive in another two runs to give the Spikes their first lead of the game. Their cushion only grew after that.

Hot bats

Multiple hits: Only one Spike failed to reach base Monday — seven had hits and Zach Kirtley reached on a walk — as five different players had multiple hits: Figuera (3), Ortega (3), Lopes (2), Bryce Denton (3) and Brandon Benson (2).

Up next

Auburn Doubledays at State College Spikes, noon Tuesday: The Spikes’ Jonathon Mulford (2-3, 4.13 ERA) will get nod against a pitcher to be determined from Auburn. Tuesday’s game is happening a bit earlier than usual on the same day as the promotion, “Super Splash Day” — where Ike’s Kids Zone turns into a water park.

This story was originally published July 31, 2017 at 11:31 PM with the headline "State College Spikes overcome early deficit to defeat Auburn."