UNIVERSITY PARK - The State College Spikes closed out their 2007 season with a 4-3 win over the Mahoning Valley Scrappers on Friday evening. The team finished the season with a 36-39 record thanks to a four-game winning streak to end the year. The team also saw unsurpassed success in the stands, as 151,394 fans walked through the gates of Medlar Field at Lubrano Park during the team's second season, an increase of nearly 13,000 fans from the inaugural campaign.
As has been the standard practice for the last week of the season, the Spikes drew first blood in the bottom of the first inning. Brian Friday lead off the Spikes first turn at-bat with a solo blast into the left-field picnic pavilion to give State College the early 1-0 edge. Mahoning Valley responded quickly though, scoring a pair in the second and once more in the third to open up a 3-1 lead.
State College wouldn't go quietly, however, as they responded in a big way in the lower half of the fifth. Smelin Perez started the rally with a double and was still in scoring position after Friday was plunked to put two runners aboard for Keanon Simon. Simon, who finished the year with a franchise record .335 batting average, started the scoring with an RBI single that plated Perez and moved Friday to third. Justin Byler was the next man to bat, and the 2007 Spikes Player of the Year came through in the clutch once more driving in the tying run with an RBI single that moved Simon to second base. Keanon then took matters into his own hands as the former Oklahoma State Cowboy stole third and then came around to score when the throw eluded the Scrappers third baseman to give the Spikes a 4-3 lead.
That is how the game would end, as Mike Felix (2-1), Harrison Bishop and Adam Simon combined to throw the final five innings of the game, allowing only two hits to close out the victory.
The win closed out a record setting year for the Spikes as the team welcomed seven crowds of over 5,000 to the ballpark during the year and saw the first Spikes player Brendan Ryan advance to the Major Leagues with the Cardinals. The year also saw amazing accomplishments on the field as Andrew Walker, Keanon Simon and Justin Byler all finished in the top 10 in the New York-Penn League in batting.
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