NYPL State College Spikes

Spikes Clinch Home Field in First Playoff Series With 6-0 Win over 'Cutters

Published on September 1, 2014 under New York-Penn League (NYPL)
State College Spikes News Release


WILLIAMSPORT, PA - Alex De Leon produced his second four-hit game of the year, including his ninth homer of the season, and the State College Spikes clinched one of the New York-Penn League's top two playoff seeds with a 6-0 victory over the Williamsport Crosscutters in the regular season finale on Monday at Susquehanna Bank Park at Historic Bowman Field.

The Spikes, who finished the regular season 48-28 to tie a franchise record set last year for victories in a season, will have home-field advantage in the best-of-three NYPL Semifinal Series to open the playoffs. State College will host Game 2 of the Semifinal Series, which is scheduled for Thursday at Medlar Field at Lubrano Park. Game 3, if necessary, would be scheduled for Friday at Medlar Field at Lubrano Park.

Matchups for each of the two Semifinal Series are still to be determined. The Spikes would capture the first seed, and meet the NYPL Wild Card winner, with a Tri-City loss against Vermont later on Monday. State College would be the second seed and meet Hudson Valley in the first round with a Tri-City win on Monday.

The Wild Card berth is also still up in the air, as Connecticut and Brooklyn are tied entering the regular season's final day. Connecticut, which holds the advantage in the head-to-head tiebreaker, is in the playoffs with a win over Lowell. Brooklyn needs a Connecticut loss and a win against Staten Island to gain the Wild Card entry.

De Leon's home run, a two-run shot to left field in the fifth inning, increased the State College lead to 5-0. The Kansas product knocked in a total of three runs in the game.

The Spikes took the advantage in the first inning with De Leon's RBI single and a run-scoring groundout from Robelys Reyes. Darren Seferina then produced a run by bringing Chase Raffield in with a two-out single in the fourth.

State College finished the scoring in the sixth when Danny Diekroeger knocked in Raffield with one of his two doubles.

Austin Gomber (2-2) also put together another strong performance on the mound for the Spikes. Gomber, the St. Louis Cardinals' 2014 fourth-round draft choice, ran his streak of scoreless innings to 14 with seven shutout frames on Sunday. The southpaw gave up five hits and struck out four Williamsport (33-43) batters for his second straight win.

Crosscutters starter Feliberto Sanchez (3-9) took the loss in the last game of the year for Williamsport. Sanchez gave up five runs, four of them earned, on 10 hits and a walk while striking out two. Wilmer Oberto and Sean McHugh each had mutiple hits for the Crosscutters, who scored just one run over their last 45 innings against the Spikes in the 2014 season.

Fans can purchase Four-Game Playoff Packs in anticipation of potential Spikes' home games during the 2014 NYPL playoffs. Four-Game Playoff Packs start as low as just $16 per seat and include a $2 per game savings off the single-game price. In addition, each seat purchased as part of a Four-Game Playoff Pack will come with a free, limited-edition 2014 Spikes playoff t-shirt while supplies last. Four-Game Playoff Packs can be purchased at the Spikes Box Office by calling (814) 272-1711 or by visiting in person.

Single-game playoff tickets will also be available to fans at the Spikes Box Office and online at StateCollegeSpikes.com beginning on Tuesday at 9:00 a.m.

Catch all of the playoff action starting on Wednesday via the Spikes Radio Network, presented by Penn State Sports Medicine. Spikes Live, presented by Mount Nittany Health, will be on the air for each playoff game to start the coverage. The Spikes' radio broadcast can also be heard worldwide through the "Listen Live" link on StateCollegeSpikes.com, provided by 95.3 FM 3WZ, and on the 3WZ mobile apps, available on Google Play and the App Store.

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New York-Penn League Stories from September 1, 2014


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