It seemed like the Oneonta Tigers wanted to lose the game.
Costly errors, unfulfilled opportunities and a shaky ninth inning on both sides of the ball probably should have doomed them.
But the State College Spikes (12-10) refused to grasp the chances the Tigers threw their way, dropping a 4-3 decision last night at Medlar Field at Lubrano Park. The Spikes extended their losing streak to four games with the defeat, a long cry from their nine-game victory string from earlier in the month.
Oneonta first baseman Chris Carlson slammed a home run for the second straight night. His solo blast in the fourth inning off of Spikes starter Moises Robles proved the deciding margin.
"When you see there's an outcome like this, a one-run ballgame, there's so many little things that can happen," State College manager Turner Ward said. "You have to evaluate yourself every game. I hope it hurts. These games bother me."
State College's offense stuttered through yet another game, scoring three runs, but all in backwards ways. First on an Austin McClune double play groundout with men on first and third and no out in the fifth inning, and crossing two across the plate in a wacky seventh on throwing errors by Oneonta (11-11) pitcher Paul Nardozzi.
Although the team managed eight hits for the second night in a row, a Erik Huber double in the seventh inning proved the Spikes' only extra-base knock, and they only managed one two-out hit. Huber and shortstop Michael Ambrose combined for five of the eight hits for the Spikes.
But the two-out struggles don't begin to describe the frustrations for State College.
Though Oneonta drew the crowd of 3,357 back into the game once it had seemed to disappear with its defensive mistakes, the Spikes weren't able to take the next step up to tie the contest.
"We just needed to kinda get a hit here, get a hit there," Huber said. "Just bring it back to, hopefully, where we could win a ballgame in the ninth. That's where you wanna be. We got it to that situation."
The Spikes had a shining chance to emerge victorious in the bottom of the ninth, after relief pitcher Ronald Uviedo emerged from the bullpen to pitch them out of a two on, one-out jam in the top of the session, holding the one-run deficit.
But in the exact same situation on the offensive side, second baseman Matt Cavagnaro grounded into a game-ending double play, State College's third of the night.
"It's frustrating, but that's baseball," Cavagnaro said. "A week ago we were in the same situation, but we got the big hit. ... Hopefully it will change tomorrow."
Though the losses annoy him, Ward said that his "cup is always half full."
"You have to take advantages of the teams' faults, and that's usually what happens in games,"
he said. "It's just frustrating to lose a ballgame."
