The sign that hangs in the State College Spikes clubhouse hallway is all about meeting adversity.

At the bottom of the sign, in bold letters, it simply says: keep grinding, no excuses, succeed.

That phrase might be the best way to characterize the demeanor of center fielder Evan Chambers and the rest of the Spikes after his eighth inning home run, his first as a professional, carried the Spikes to a 5-4 win over the Williamsport Crosscutters Saturday afternoon.

Not only was it the third consecutive win for State College (8-8), it finally got the Spikes to the .500 mark for the first time since the second game of the season.

"It's a big thing," Spikes first baseman Kyle Morgan said. "Just for our confidence and to just get a little momentum going, mainly. We knew we had the potential to get back there and we knew it was going to take a little bit of time."

That sign in the clubhouse was apropos for Saturday's affair on Independence Day in front of 4,452 at Medlar Field at Lubrano Park, especially since the Crosscutters (9-7) came back to tie the game on three separate occasions against State College.

That was before Chambers stepped up to lead off the eighth inning. Chambers had been grinding himself, earning four walks in his first two games and an RBI despite only being one for his first five.

Then he stepped in against Esmelvin Jimenez (0-1) and worked the count full as he has done numerous times since he was assigned to State College.

This time, he wouldn't walk.

He instead sent the ball to right field into the strong wind and deposited his first professional home run over the wall, less than 48 hours after scoring the game-winning run Thursday night against Auburn.

"Couldn't have hit it at a better time," Chambers said. "I was just happy that I helped pick the team up and it turned out to be the go-ahead run that we could win the game."

Chambers' hit couldn't have come at a better time.

The Spikes pitching staff had allowed Williamsport to tie the game a third time against Spike reliever Victor Black (1-0) after scoring once in the sixth inning to tie the game at three and twice in the fifth inning to tie the game at two.

Unlike in previous games, where walks and hits led to big innings and possible losses, the Spikes' pitchers were able to maintain some amount of damage control and keep the team in the game. Williamsport only scored in three innings and only scored once in two of those three innings.

"Today, I didn't think that we used the count very well," Spikes manager Gary Robinson said. "[Friday] night, we used the count very well, [Saturday], not so well. But, we didn't quit, and that's a guts issue. You have to have guts to be able to throw a 3-1 fastball like you mean it, if it gets hit, it gets hit. We can't get scared off the strike zone because we pitch in a 3-1 count and then gets beat."

Still, when it was all said and done and David Rubinstein caught the final fly ball on the warning track in right field, State College was 8-8.

As the Spikes travel to Williamsport to continue the series tomorrow, they will have a chance to do something they haven't done since 2007: have a winning record.

"It's a confidence thing," Morgan said on reaching .500. "Right now, we're swinging it, we're playing defense, pitchers are making pitches and it is good to get some momentum going, it really is. Just to be able to go out there, and we're starting to get the point to where we know we can battle with the best of them, and we're just trying to get everything right and hopefully good things will happen."