State College Spikes (19 - 20) @ Mahoning Valley Scrappers (19-20)Tuesday, July 31 -- 7:05 p.m.
Eastwood Field - Niles, OH
Game # 40 / Road Game #19
RHP Matt Foust (1-2, 2.97) vs. LHP Bill Delage (0-4, 6.29)
STATE COLLEGE STARTER: RHP Matt Foust will take the mound for his eighth start of the year this evening against the Scrappers. Foust enters tonight's action with a 1-2 record with a 2.97 ERA. In his 14.0 innings of work, he has allowed only three earned runs but has struggled with his control as he has walked 11 runners and struck out only nine. In his last start, Foust allowed two runs on two hits while walking five over his 3.0 innings of work against Aberdeen on July 25th. On the season, opponents are hitting only .183 against Foust, but his 21 base on balls rank him fourth in the NYPL only four behind Sendy Vasquez of Oneonta. Foust was the Pirates' 6th round selection in the 2006 MLB draft out of the University of Nebraska. At Nebraska, Foust split time between the starting rotation and the bullpen. In 2007, he went 2-4 with seven saves. In 65.0 innings, he walked 32 and struck out 53.
MAHONING VALLEY STARTER: LHP Bill Delage is the fifth straight left handed starter that the Spikes will face. Delage was the Indians' 14th round selection in the 2006 MLB draft out of Lamar University. Delage enters tonight's game with an 0-4 record and a 6.29 ERA. In his last start, he allowed four runs on seven hits over 2.0 innings of work against the Hudson Valley Renegades. Last season, Delage appeared in two games against the Spikes and went 0-2 with a 6.75 ERA. In 9.1 innings of work, spanning two starts, he allowed eight runs on 14 hits.
ON TAP TONIGHT: The State College Spikes will take on the Mahoning Valley Scrappers in the middle game of a three game series. The Scrappers are currently in a tie for second place in the Pinckney Division with the Spikes. Last season, the Spikes went 6-4 against the Scrappers, including a 2-3 record at Eastwood Field.
LAST NIGHT'S GAME: The State College Spikes dropped the first game of a six-game road trip to the Mahoning Valley Scrappers 4-0 at Eastwood Field. Two big hits were the undoing for the Spikes as Tony Watson (6-1) lost for the first time as a professional. Watson left after 5.0 innings of work, giving up two runs on six hits, and striking out four. The Spikes (19-20) were shut down by the brilliant pitching of southpaw Heath Taylor (1-2), the Cleveland Indians' 10th round draft pick this year. Taylor went 5.2 innings, striking two while scattering just five hits. The only time the Spikes threatened in the game was with two outs in the sixth inning. After a two-out walk to Justin Byler, Miles Durham hit a double to right-center field. That hit knocked Taylor out of the game, but reliever Kyle Collina was able to get Andrew Walker to ground out to third to end the threat.
NO RUNS FOR THE WEARY: The State College Spikes have scored more than five runs in a game only once dating back to July 5th. Over that span, the Spikes are 8-15 and have scored only 59 runs for an average of 2.6 runs per game. Just seven times this entire season, the Spikes have scored more than five runs in a game. The Brooklyn Cyclones, the leagues leading offensive team, has scored more than five runs 16 times this year.
Earlier this season, the Spikes put together a stretch of nine straight wins and in these games they scored a total of 57 runs. In the other 30 games that the Spikes have played this year, the team has scored only 79 runs. The Spikes have also been shut out three times this season, which is tied with Williamsport for the most shutouts in the NYPL. By comparison, the New York Mets have been shutout three times in 105 games this season.
NO FIREWORKS IN JULY: August can't come soon enough for the Spikes as July has been a struggle for the team. The team has gone 12-15 in the month and been outscored 104 - 82. Only one position player on the roster is hitting over .300 in the month, as Austin McClune is hitting .329 (24-for-73). The rest of the team is hitting only .232 with everyday players Bobby Spain (.189), Smelin Perez (.179), Daniel Rios (.196), and Matt Cavagnaro(.174) all hitting below .200 for the month.
ALRIGHT VS. LEFTIES: Tonight will be the fifth straight left-handed starter that the Spikes will face, with the Spikes going 2-2 in the previous four games. A southpaw on the mound has been good news for OF Austin McClune as the Pirates' 7th round selection in the 2006 MLB draft, is hitting .444 (12-for-25) against lefties. Erik Huber has also been successful, hitting .346 (9-for-26). Conversely, Smelin Perez is hitting only .111 (4-for-36) against lefties.
CAN'T COMEBACK: The Spikes are 0-18 in games when they are trailing after seven innings this season. Last year, the late inning rally was the trademark of the Spikes as the team had 12 wins in their last turn at-bats. This season they only have one win in their last at-bat, (July 4th against Williamsport) when Michael Ambrose was hit by a pitch with the bases loaded in the bottom of the 10th.
ROAD RULES: Spikes outfielder Keanon Simon is currently riding a nine-game hitting streak in road games. The former Oklahoma State University Cowboy is hitting .471 (16-for-34) over that stretch and has a .500 on-base percentage.
CATCH ‘EM IF YOU CAN: Last night the Scrappers stole two bases to increase the number of stolen bases against the Spikes to a league high 55. The Spikes have caught only 12 of 67 attempted base stealers for a league low .179 caught stealing percentage. Conversely, Mahoning Valley has thrown out 18-of-56 would-be base stealers. Their catcher Alex Castillo has thrown out 10 runners so far this season for the fourth most in the league.
GET ON BASE, STAY ON BASE: The State College Spikes have been struggling all season with runners on base, hitting only .207 with runners in scoring position. The .207 average is worst in the NYPL, while the Scrappers are leading the league with a .290 average with runners in scoring position. In the month of July, the Spikes have left 194 runners on base including more than ten runners on four separate occasions.
FIVE AND DIMES: Over the last five games Justin Byler and Bobby Spain have been hitting well. Byler is hitting .375 (6-for-16) and Spain is hitting .333 (4-for-12). Smelin Perez is 0-for-18 in the last five games and Daniel Rios is 0-for-19 over the last 10 games.
CAVY COME LATELY: Spikes infielder Matt Cavagnaro has been struggling for the last four weeks, going 10-for-74 dating back to July 4th. Over the last two games through, Cavagnaro has shown some signs of life, going 2-for-8 with two RBI.
AROUND THE ORGANIZATION: Indianapolis (54-54) lost to Durham 6-3. Luis Munoz (1-1) suffered the loss after allowing four runs on eight hits over 5.0 innings of work ... Altoona (55-50) had the day off ... Lynchburg (45-58) lost to the Frederick Keys 6-4 in 10 innings. SS Angel Gonzalez went 3-for-5 with a run scored and RBI ... Hickory (50-54) was rained out in Charlotte ... Bradenton (13-21) lost to the GCL Twins by the score of 8-3. OF Quincy Latimore went 1-for-4 as his average dropped to .267.
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