During the State College Spikes' four-game winning streak, it seemed the team had found the right balance of timely hitting and clutch pitching.

All that came to a screeching halt in Williamsport Monday night at Bowman Field. The Spikes' bats were silenced by starting pitcher Matthew Way and the State College pitching staff was done in by a four-run sixth inning in State College's 8-1 loss to the Crosscutters (10-8).

"We know we can swing the bat, we've shown that the last week," Spikes first baseman Justin Byler said. "Like our coach said, we've won four in a row or five, you're bound to have a bad game. The way he pitches, he had a good fastball tonight and things like this happen to a team."

The Spikes (9-9) offensively were shut down by Way (1-0), who allowed just one hit -- to second baseman Ty Summerlin -- in six innings while striking out five. After a first inning single to Summerlin, Way would only allow one more baserunner on an error to Williamsport third baseman Alan Schoenberger off the bat of right fielder David Rubinstein.

But in keeping to the theme of the night, Rubinstein was subsequently caught stealing at second.

"He kept us real off-balance with that good changeup he was throwing," Byler said of Way. "Kept it down in the zone, made it real hard for us to even get a barrel on it. And then, he mixed up his fastball well with that changeup and it really kept us off-balance."

The lack of offense was not a big help to State College starter Ricardo Paulino (0-1), who retired the first 13 batters he faced before he allowed a single to Michael Dabbs, who would later score on a Francisco Murillo RBI single to give Williamsport a 1-0 lead.

Williamsport would then break the game open in the sixth off of Spikes reliever Nelson Pereira.

The 6-foot-1 right hander would allow a single, double and a walk before shortstop Jeremy Barnes stepped up. And with one swing of the bat, Barnes had his team-leading third homer, a grand slam to left field that would give Williamsport a 5-0 lead.

The Crosscutters would tack on three more in the seventh off of Paulino, who would give up seven runs, five earned, with three walks in 1.2 innings.

The 6-foot-1, 233 pound Byler would finally get the Spikes on the board in the eighth with his first homer of the season, but it was the only offensive highlight of the night for State College.

The Spikes had a chance to possibly move into a tie with Mahoning Valley for first place in the Pinckney Division.

Instead, State College will be at least 1.5 games back and a half-game behind Wednesday night's opponent, the Batavia Muckdogs.

The Muckdogs are 10-8 and in second place behind Mahoning Valley in the Pinckney Division.

"We really can't get too down on ourselves," Byler said. "We got a six game homestand, so hopefully we can turn it around."