Costly errors doom State College Spikes in loss to Auburn

A pair of errors proved especially costly for the State College Spikes on Tuesday, as they fell 5-3 to the Auburn Doubledays at Medlar Field at Lubrano Park.

A third-inning throwing error by catcher Joshua Lopez led to a run, and another throwing error — this time by shortstop Edwin Figuera — allowed another run to score in the ninth. Those two scores proved to be the difference, as State College out-hit Auburn 11-9.

Outfielder Scott Hurst paced the Spikes with all three of their RBIs on a two-run homer and an RBI single.

With the loss, State College falls to 22-18 while the Doubledays improve to 16-25.

Player of the game

Auburn shortstop Branden Boggetto: The 26th-rounder from last year’s draft was the lone Doubleday with a multi-hit game, as he finished 3 of 4 with a walk. Boggetto also contributed two runs, in the fifth and ninth innings. He led all batters in hitting; four Spikes had two hits apiece but none boasted three.

Turning point

Top of the 8th: With the score deadlocked at 3-3, Auburn second baseman Joshual Ramirez led off the inning with a line-drive triple to center field — and he reached home after a strikeout followed by a fielder’s choice. That gave the Doubledays the lead and — although they added insurance in the ninth — that’s all it turned out they needed to earn the victory.

Men of steal

Spikes have no answer: Auburn finished with five stolen bases Tuesday, including two from Nick Choruby and then one each from Boggetto, Jonathan Pryor and Armond Upshaw. Before the matchup, Auburn averaged about 0.6 stolen bases per game. State College is currently tied for last in the NYPL with 20 stolen bases, while the Doubledays are a middle-of-the-pack team with 29.

Up next

Doubleheader at West Virginia, starting at 5 p.m. Wednesday: In Game 1, the State College Spikes’ Andrew Summerville (1-0, 2.33 ERA) will take on the Black Bears’ Sergio Cubilete (2-2, 2.23 ERA) and, in the second game, West Virginia’s Gavin Wallace (0-2, 3.70) will face a Spikes pitcher TBD. The game is a doubleheader due to a postponed contest from July 22.

This story was originally published August 1, 2017 at 5:37 PM with the headline "Costly errors doom State College Spikes in loss to Auburn."