NYPL State College Spikes

Spikes Game Notes

Published on August 9, 2007 under New York-Penn League (NYPL)
State College Spikes News Release


State College Spikes (23 - 25) vs. Lowell Spinners (26-22)

Thursday, August 9 - 7:05 PM

Medlar Field at Lubrano Park

Game # 49 / Home Game # 26

RHP Moises Robles (2-7, 3.81) vs. RHP Jordan Craft (5-2, 4.24)

SPIKES STARTER: RHP Moises Robles, taken from the New York Mets in the Minor League Rule V draft this past December will make his 10th start of the year for State College. The Santo Domingo, DR native checks in with a 2-7 record, coming off his best start of the year against the first-place Auburn Doubledays. Robles pitched 5.0 scoreless innings, striking out six, and walking a season-high four on August 3 at Falcon Park. The win snapped a personal five-game losing streak for the right-hander. Robles will make his fourth start at Medlar Field at Lubrano Park and has pitched considerably better at home as opposed to on the road. Robles, though 0-3 at home, has an ERA nearly two runs lower in the Happy Valley (2.89 at home vs. 4.35 on the road). Robles has also not walked a batter when standing on the Medlar Field mound. The 23-year old signed as a non-drafted free agent with the New York Mets and spent three years in the Dominican Summer League, and holds a career record of 8-13 in 15 starts.

SPINNERS STARTER: RHP Jordan Craft will be making his 10th appearance of the year (fifth start) for the Lowell Spinners. Craft leads the Spinners staff with a 5-2 record, and sports an ERA of 4.24. After working consistently out of the bullpen from June 21 through July 19, Craft was put into the starting rotation and has gone 2-2 in that role. In his four starts, he has gone 4.0 innings or more, enjoying two separate seven-strikeout performances (July 30 vs. Brooklyn & July 19 vs. Aberdeen). As a starter, Craft has a 3.60 in 20.0 innings of work. So far this year, Craft has worked at total of 34.0 innings, and has given up just 22 hits while striking out 38 and walking 18. Craft, the Red Sox 13th round draft pick last year from Dallas Baptist University, missed most of the 2006 season because of a fractured left tibia and then later was sidelined because of a left hamstring strain. In nine rehab appearances between the GCL Red Sox and Lowell, Craft went 1-0 with a 1.72 ERA in nine games (two starts) striking out 17 and walking four.

ON TAP TONIGHT: The Spikes will look for their second consecutive series win tonight against the Lowell Spinners. State College took two of three from Lowell last year, and won the first game of this series 12-2, but fell last night 4-3. Tonight will also be the final game of the Spikes' longest home stand in August (five games). The Spikes will return home to Medlar Field at Lubrano Park one week from tomorrow (August 17 vs. Williamsport).

LAST NIGHT'S GAME: State College collected only two hits in the first five innings of the game, while the Spinners bats took advantage of a rare poor outing from Duke Welker (2-2) and jumped out to an early lead. After two scoreless innings, Lowell broke through in the third inning scoring a single unearned run on a RBI single from Rafael Cabreja. The Spikes started to trim away at the deficit. Brian Friday started the rally with a double and moved to third on a Matt Cavagnaro single. Justin Byler then got the Spikes on the board with and RBI groundout before Andrew Walker drove home the second run with an RBI double that made the score 4-2. The Spikes continued their comeback in the seventh scoring once on a Smelin Perez RBI single and later had runners on second and third with only one out, but Brian Friday and Matt Cavagnaro were unable to get the tying run across the plate.

ALL STARS: Yesterday the New York-Penn League announced the rosters for the 2007 NYPL All-Star Game and five future stars were selected to represent the State College Spikes in the game that will be played on August 14th at Dutchess Stadium, home of the Hudson Valley Renegades. 1B Justin Byler, OF Austin McClune, OF Keanon Simon, LHP Tony Watson and C Nick Stillwagon will represent the Spikes on the National League Affiliated teams. Having five players on the squad ties the Spikes with the Brooklyn Cyclones and Vermont LakeMonsters for the largest representation on the National League team. The five All-Stars will head to Hudson Valley for the 3rd Annual New York-Penn League All-Star game on Tuesday, August 14th. Tickets are still available for the game, but those that are not able to travel to Fishkill, NY will be able to follow the action on MILB.com.

A WIN FOR BREAST CANCER: The State College Spikes lost on the field to the Lowell Spinners on Wednesday evening, by the score of 4-3 but they were victorious in the fight against breast cancer as the Spikes raised over $5,000 for the Mount Nittany Medical Center Breast Care Center during the team's second annual Paint the Park Pink. The Spikes wore special pink jerseys that were auctioned off throughout the evening, and fans were able to donate money to honor their loved ones who have been affected by the disease.

CHRISTMAS IN AUBURN FOR ROBLES: In the last start for RHP Moises Robles, the Spikes pounded out six runs. Before the six-spot was put up on August 3, Robles had received just 15 runs of support in his first eight starts of the year, which was a large reason the righty had lost five-straight decisions. The Spikes prevailed 6-2 at Falcon Park. In the four straight losses, Robles had given up 12 earned runs in 24.2 innings over those five starts.

CATCH ME IF YOU CAN: The Spikes pitchers and catchers have struggled shutting down the running game of the opposition. Opposing base runners against State College have stolen 72 bases in 85 tries, which ranks 14th in the NYPL

HOT AND COLD: The Spikes are hitting nearly .300 as a team over their last five games (.294). The Spikes have eight players hitting .300 or better over their last five games: Bobbby Spain (.400, 4-for-10), Keanon Simon (.357, 5-for-14), Daniel Rios (.667, 2-for-3), Smelin Perez (.313, 5-for-16), Austin McClune (.353, 6-for-17), Brain Friday (.316, 6-for-19), Miles Durham (.333, 1-for-3), and Justin Byler (.300, 6-for-20).

SPEAKIN' OF STREAKIN': Justin Byler went 0-for-4 last night and had his 10-game hit streak snapped. Over the course of the streak, Byler was able to lift his batting average from .298 to .311...Brian Friday doubled last night and extended his hitting streak to nine games. Friday has played in 13 games this year for the Spikes and has gone hitless in just two games this year. Over the course of this nine game hit streak, Friday has raised his batting average from .188 to .283...Andrew Walker and Marcus Davis each are currently riding three-game hitting streaks.

UP NEXT: The Spikes will travel to Troy, NY to take on the Tri-City ValleyCats for a three-game series. It will be the first-ever trip for the Spikes to Tri-City. The ValleyCats, last year's Stedlar Division champions took two out of three against State College from July 12-14 last year. The Spikes won the first game 8-1, but fell by scores of 5-1 and 6-4.

UPCOMING GAMES & PROBABLES

Friday, August 10 7:05 PM Spikes @ Tri-City LHP Tony Watson (6-1, 2.77) vs. LHP Anthony Bello (1-4, 5.27)

Sat., Aug. 11 7:05 PM Spikes @ Tri-City RHP Jake Cuffman (0-1, 7.36) vs.RHP Robert Leonhardt (1-2, 3.13)

Sunday, August 12 6:05 PM Spikes @ Tri-City RHP Matt Foust (2-3, 2.92) vs. LHP Jeff Icenogle (1-3, 2.27)

Monday, August 13 ***OFF DAY - ALL STAR BREAK***

Check out the State College Spikes Statistics

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New York-Penn League Stories from August 9, 2007


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