NYPL State College Spikes

Spikes Game Notes

Published on August 29, 2007 under New York-Penn League (NYPL)
State College Spikes News Release


BATAVIA MUCKDOGS (26-38) vs. STATE COLLEGE SPIKES (32-33)

Wednesday, August 28 - 7:05 PM

Medlar Field at Lubrano Park - University Park, PA

Game # 66 / Home Game #32

RHP Blake King (1-3, 3.98) vs. RHP Kyle McPherson (0-1, 5.40)

SPIKES STARTING PITCHER: RHP Kyle McPherson will make his Medlar Field at Lubrano Park debut tonight, after making his Spikes debut last Friday at Jamestown. McPherson, a 6'3", 205 pounder from Creola, Alabama was taken by the Pittsburgh Pirates in the 14th round of the 2007 MLB draft this June out of the University of Mobile. Kyle, who will turn 20 in November, started this year by making 12 appearances (10 starts) for manager Tom Prince and the GCL Pirates. With the Baby Buccos, McPherson went 4-2 with a 2.61 ERA in 51.2 innings pitched while striking out 35 and walking just 10 batters. In his debut versus Jamestown, McPherson took the loss, but pitched well. His undoing was the third inning against the Jammers in which he allowed three successive hits and then issued a bases loaded walk before giving up two-straight sacrifice flys. McPherson enjoyed three, 1-2-3 innings, and retired the last seven batters he faced en route to his 5.0 innings of four-hit baseball. McPherson has taken the spot in the Spikes rotation that was vacated by the promotion of Tony Watson earlier this month.

BATAVIA STARTING PITCHER: RHP Blake King will take the stump tonight for the Muckdogs in his eight start of the 2007 season. This will be King's 14th appearance of the season as he has also made six appearances out of the Batavia bullpen. He checks in with a 1-3 record and a 3.98 ERA in his second professional season after being drafted last year in the 44th round by the St. Louis Cardinals out of Bishop Kelley High School in Tulsa, Oklahoma. The 6'1", 220-pound righty has struck out 53 and walked just 29 in his 43.0 innings of work, holding opposing hitters to a .236 average. With Johnson City last year, King was one of the Cardinal's top starters, as in 13 outings he posted a 4-3 record and 3.02 ERA en route to punching out 74, and issuing just 29 walks in 69.2 innings. King has made two appearances against the Spikes this year, including his first one of the season on July 2 where he received a no-decision, going 2.2 innings and walking five. He last appeared against the Spikes on August 22 when he went 4.0 innings and gave up three runs on six hits. King comes from good blood lines, as he is the great-nephew of former Yankees great, and Hall-of-Famer, Mickey Mantle.

ON TAP TONIGHT/ON DECK TOMORROW: The Spikes and Muckdogs close out their season series tonight, as the Spikes will also finish up their Retro-Celebrity Series Appearance promotion tonight as Anson Williams who played "Potsie" in the hit TV series "Happy Days" will be at the ballpark to meet fans and sign autographs. Tomorrow, the Spikes hit the road for their final road trip of the season, as they'll make two-game swings at both Auburn and Mahoning Valley before returning home Monday to open up the final homestand of the year.

LAST NIGHT'S GAME: The State College Spikes won a thriller on Tuesday evening, beating the Batavia Muckdogs by the score of 6-4 in comeback fashion. Smelin Perez, who was 10 for his last 77 coming into the at-bat, provided the winning margin with a two-RBI double in the bottom of the eighth. Justin Byler also added a 3-for-4 night with two runs scored and one of thee Spikes home runs to pace the offense. RHP Harrison Bishop (1-0) recorded his first career victory pitching in relief, while Adam Simon pitched a scoreless ninth for his fourth save.

DEERS AND DOGS: The Spikes and Muckdogs will play for the final time this season with State College have a 5-3 record against Batavia this year, however the Dogs have won two of the last three games. The Spikes lead the all-time Batavia/State College series which started last year, 10-8. The Spikes were 5-5 against Batavia a year ago.

HOMER HAPPY: With three round-trippers last night, the State College Spikes have hit four homers in their last two games. The most home runs the Spikes have hit in a short period of time this year is the five they hit in back-to-back games against the Lowell Spinners on August 6 and 7. The Spikes hit one on 8/6, a solo blast by Marcus Davis. The Spikes hit four the following game, including the back-to-back-to-back shots by Justin Byler, Andrew Walker, and Bobby Spain. Davis also homered in that game. All were solo home runs, just as the four bombs hit in the last two days have been. The Spikes have hit a total of 32 home runs this year, but only six of them have come with runners on base.

FILLING IN NICELY: C Andrew Walker, who was injured during the first game of a double-header at Jamestown on August 23 has still not seen game action since his collision with Dustin Kaats. Since then, Nick Stillwagon has been the Spikes primary backstop and has done an admirable job filling in. Since Walker's injury, Stillwagon, the undrafted free agent sign in 2006 has gone 5-for-19 (.263) with a home run, two RBIs, and five runs scored.

DURACELL VS. ENERGIZER: What a difference a year makes in the production a club gets out of their battery. The 2007 tandem of Spikes backstops have produced much more offensively than the receivers of a year ago, however, the same cannot be said defensively. Through this point last year, the trio of David Carpenter, Steve Gonzalez, and Scott Thomas were hitting a combined .201 with one home run and 23 RBIs compared to the duo of Andrew Walker and Nick Stillwagon, who are hitting a collective .285 with four home runs and 40 RBIs. Defensively, the 2006 Spikes catchers threw out 24-of-78 (31%) whereas this year's group has just gunned down 19-of-102 (19%).

CAVY COME LATELY: Matt Cavagnaro who comes into tonight's game going 13-for-38 (.342) over his last 10 contests has had a great deal of success in the month of August. Cavangaro, who only hit .167 all of July has hit .303 this month, to go along with a home run and 11 RBIs. Matt has also played solid defense at second base committing only two errors in 22 games.

THE FINAL COUNTDOWN: With the Spikes sitting 7.5 games back of the first-place Auburn Doubledays, State College can control their own destiny as State College will play the Auburn four more times this season, while after tonight, the Spikes will play the Mahoning Valley Scrappers five more times. After State College, the Doubledays will play five contests with the Jamestown Jammers. The Spikes wild-card hopes aren't all that great, as to overtake leader Staten Island, State College would have to overtake four other teams (Lowell, Mahoning Valley and Vermont) who are all ahead of the Spikes.

AROUND THE ORGANIZATION: PITTSBURGH (59-72) moved just 8.5 games out of first place with a sweep of a double-header against Cincinatti yesterday at PNC Park. Freddy Sanchez hit a grand slam in game one which the Bucs prevailed 6-4 and Adam LaRoche delivered an RBI single in the bottom of the eight in game two for a 3-2 win. Matt Capps recorded saves in both games... Indianapolis (68-69) lost to Columbus, 5-3. LHP Michael Tejera (8-5, 3.96) allowed three runs and four hits in six innings. 1B Steve Pearce (.355) went 2 for 4 with a triple... Altoona (69-64) beat Reading, 4-2. LHP Josh Shortslef (5-12, 4.21) allowed one run in six innings. RHP Matt Peterson (2.02) recorded his 27th save with a perfect ninth... Lynchburg (54-77) lost at Potomac, 8-4...Hickory (65-66) beat Asheville, 2-0. Former Spike Tony Watson (1-1, 4.50) pitched six scoreless innings and allowed four hits. He struck out eight and walked none. RF Jonel Pacheco (.311) hit his 26th home run and went 2 for 3 with a triple and a walk.

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