State College Spikes host MLB Draft League championship for first time, but come up short

When State College became home of the Spikes in 2006, the organization was a minor league affiliate of the Pittsburgh Pirates and St. Louis Cardinals in the New York-Penn League. But in 2021, the Spikes split off and joined the MLB Draft League, and Thursday night marked the first time they hosted the league’s championship.

A trophy wouldn’t be added to the case for State College, however, as the West Virginia Black Bears continued their dominance of the Spikes with a 12-5 win in the title game in front of a Dollar Dog Night crowd of 3,078.

How they got there

The Spikes earned their spot in the championship by winning the first half of the league. Their victory came down to the wire, as the Mahoning Valley Scrappers were just half a game back of the top spot with a 17-13 record compared to State College’s 17-12 finish.

State College’s end to the first half was really why it played on Thursday — the Spikes finished the stretch 8-2, clinching the title with an 8-3 win over the Williamsport Crosscutters. Luke House, who had a 2.11 ERA in the first half and was an All-First Half Team selection, threw six scoreless innings to propel his team to the title game.

The Spikes’ opponent Thursday was the West Virginia Black Bears, who ran away with the second half title. The Black Bears went 29-15 after July 12 and finished seven games ahead of the next closest team. State College, meanwhile, sputtered in the second half of the season with a 21-24 record, ending up 8.5 games back of West Virginia.

West Virginia faced the Spikes 10 times throughout the regular season, with the Black Bears holding a 7-2-1 advantage. The two teams only faced three times in the first half compared to seven times in the second. The last time the squads faced was Aug. 14, which ended in a 3-3 tie.

How it ended

Coming off a 3-0 sweep against the Crosscutters, the Spikes brought plenty of momentum into the championship game. A big reason for that is catcher Jaden Collura, who entered the bout with a franchise record-tying 21-game hitting streak.

State College continued the hot streak to start by taking an early 1-0 lead in the bottom of the first inning via an RBI double by shortstop T.J. Salvaggio, who hit the Spikes’ first-ever grand slam in the month of September on Monday. But West Virginia’s starter Jacob Weaver settled in to limit the damage.

It didn’t take long for the Black Bears to counter, with Utah Valley’s Landon Frei singling to bring home a run and tie the game. Second baseman Alex Rodgers singled later in the top of the second to send Frei home and give West Virginia a 2-1 lead. A run down in between third base and home plate ended the inning and kept it a one-run game.

The Spikes tied the contest in the bottom of the second before sending eight batters to the plate in the third. An Adonis Forte RBI double sent one runner home before a Black Bears’ error combined with a single by second baseman Trotter Boston sent home another, giving State College a 4-2 lead.

Back-and-forth play continued with West Virginia tacking on a run in the fourth, slimming State College’s lead to one. The Black Bears built off their small dose of momentum in a big way with six more runs across the next two innings to extend their lead to 9-4.

For the first time since the third inning, the Black Bears came up empty in the seventh, but so did the Spikes, who put up a fourth straight inning with no runs. West Virginia didn’t stay quiet for long, though, as it tacked on three more runs in the eighth with some help by State College, which let a pop fly fall due to a miscommunication.

After a scoreless top of the ninth for the Black Bears, the Spikes attempted to rally. Caruso did his job, hitting a home run to lead off and make the score 12-5. In the end, the Spikes couldn’t come back from the eight-run deficit, dropping the title game to West Virginia, which has now won three of the last four championships.

This story was originally published September 5, 2025 at 7:39 AM.