Just as it was the last time the State College Spikes were in town, fans will be welcoming a new member to Medlar Field at Lubrano Park.

Last week, starting pitcher Duke Welker began his career as a Spike by pitching in the first and last game of the six-game home stand. Now as he becomes a regular, it is an infielder that will have his first chance to play in front of the home crowd.

Shortstop Brian Friday, who joined the team during the road trip, will be on the roster this week and most likely in the lineup as State College (16-16) takes on the Aberdeen IronBirds (15-17) tonight at 7:05. It is the first game of a three game series.

Friday played in four games of the six game road trip. He left the game in the first inning of Saturday's game after being hit in the hand. X-rays were negative and Friday should be back in the lineup sometime this week.

Before his injury, the shortstop was beginning to contribute to the team's offense. In four at bats, Friday has only two hits but one of them was a home run. He has scored five runs and already stolen four bases.

Friday's addition coincided with the departure of Michael Ambrose, who played a variety of infield positions but mostly shortstop, was promoted on Thursday to the Lynchburg Hillcats, a single-A advanced affiliate of the Pittsburgh Pirates.

Since then, he has been moved to the Hickory Crawdads, the team he began the season with and another single-A affiliate of the Pirates.

In two games since leaving the Spikes, Ambrose has gone 2-8, with an RBI and a stolen base.
On this most recent road trip, State College had both its ups and downs and returns to Medlar Field today with a .500 record, the same record it had when it left town.

In the first three game set, the Spikes battled the Hudson Valley Renegades and were able to take two out of three from them after a difficult homestand.

The final game of the series held all the excitement as three Spikes had solo home runs.
Friday made his first Spike hit a home run as Daniel Rios and Marcus Davis took the ball over the fence also.

The second series was against the Staten Island Yankees but State College was only able to win one game out of three.

Welker pitched a beauty in the middle game to earn himself his first win as a Spike and Justin Byler hit two home runs in the series.

This six-game home stand is the longest stretch of games the team will get to play at home.
After three games against the IronBirds, the Spikes will welcome the Aberdeen Doubledays (19-14) into town.

At the moment, the Doubledays are leading the Pinckney Division of the New York-Penn League. Since State College is only two and-a-half games back, this series could be vital for first-place positioning in August.