Behind the right field wall at KeySpan Park in Brooklyn, barges and tankers slowly drifted through the Atlantic Ocean.

In the top of the second inning of last night's game against the Brooklyn Cyclones, the Spikes slowly drifted, too.

But it was to no avail.

State College lost its 20th game of the season in a 7-6 loss to the Cyclones last night.

After being shut out on Sunday and scoring just one run on Saturday, the Spikes broke out offensively in two big innings.

In the second inning, Calvin Anderson doubled to lead off and was at second base after outs by Kyle Morgan and Chris Simmons.

Then the Spikes broke out.

They strung together four straight hits, scoring four runs, giving State College a 4-2 lead after starting pitcher Emilis Guerrero gave up a leadoff homer and one out later, another solo home run.

"It seemed like there was a lot of energy and fight in everybody tonight," left fielder Cole White said.

White said that the hitting was "contagious."

Between the third and eighth innings, the Spikes offense was rather dormant, only gathering one hit in that span and losing sight of their early lead.

But they came alive in the top of the ninth.

White, who extended his hitting streak to 11 games with his two hit game, led off the inning with a single.

"It's an up and down rollercoaster," White said in response to his hitting streak. "You can't ride highs and lows."

They loaded the bases after Calvin Anderson walked with one out.

But White was forced out at home on a Kyle Morgan groundout, giving the Spikes one more out to tie the game. Chris Simmons, playing in his first game since the Fourth of July, knocked in Jeremy Farrell and pinch runner Silvio Pena.

Simmons and White were teammates at the United States Military Academy in West Point, N.Y.

"I was rooting for him all night," White said.

They couldn't add the seventh and tying run as center fielder David Rubinstein struck out swinging to end the game.

"It's disappointing," White said. "But it was good to see the team battle."

White said that the game was "definitely a momentum builder" because it showed that the team was capable of scoring runs and that is what is needed to get on the right track.

Today the Spikes have their second straight Tuesday off.

Tomorrow night, they will return home to face the Tri-City ValleyCats at 7:05.

The ValleyCats are the second worst team in the New-York Penn League with a 10-17 record.

Notes: Shortstop Andy Vasquez failed to get a hit for the first time since becoming a Spike on July 3.

Vasquez and Morgan were the only two Spikes without a hit.

With the loss, the Spikes fell 12.5 games behind Pinckney Division leader Jamestown.