Swamped in a muggy air, the 3,100-plus fans on hand at Medlar Field at Lubrano Park seemed almost too bothered to make any kind of noise.

Multiple situations arose where the Spikes were on the brink of putting together big offensive innings. But like the quiet, subtle crowd, they could not make any noise at the plate.

Coming off a 13-run offensive explosion, State College's offense was stagnate last night, due in large part to 12 strikeouts and nine runners left on base.

Two nights ago in the series opener against the ValleyCats, catcher Mark Carver pointed to a situation where the Spikes had runners on second and third with nobody and made two consecutive outs before scoring a run.

Last night, the Spikes had no such luck in coming up with any hits with runners in scoring positions. The first run came on a fielder's choice.

Then, in the bottom of the fifth, left fielder Quincy Latimore led off by ripping a triple to deep centerfield. Carver then watched a pitch elude his position's counterpart that allowed Latimore to score standing up. Carver would then strikeout.

The Spikes would garner another extra base hit and walk but would add no more to the runs column.

"Gotta give [Tri-City] some credit," Carver said. "We gotta not put too much pressure on ourselves in those situations."

Calvin Anderson, coming off a four RBI game, went 0-for-3 with a walk and two strikeouts. Manager Brad Fischer saw a significant improvement in the ValleyCats' pitching.

Fischer said that last night's pitchers mixed in good breaking balls with fastballs, something that leads to success in the New York-Penn League because of the inexperience of its hitters.

Anderson would like to see more confidence at the plate by not pressing and panicking.

"Maybe [we have a] lack of discipline" Anderson said. "And not knowing what to look for at the plate in different counts with a runner at third base and not swinging at a first pitch curveball. You gotta get a pitch you can drive."

ValleyCats' reliever Ashton Mowdy mowed down most of Spikes' batters. Mowdy struck out five batters in 2.1 innings to go along with just one hit.

"He spotted his fastball and balanced his breaking ball, Fischer said. "Our hitters didn't have any discipline with two strikes."