As Spikes players clung to the railings in the bottom of the eighth inning at Medlar Field at Lubrano Park, a fly ball hit to deep right field sparked the dugout jubilation.
Evan Chambers' powerful swing of the bat brought the dugout to life for the first time all night. Players high-fived each other as Ty Summerlin crossed home plate to score the eventual game winning run.
Behind the timely RBI double from Chambers and a strong outing from starter Kyle McPherson, the Spikes (10-9) were able to hold on for a 2-1 win over the Batavia Muckdogs (10-9).
"Pretty much going in to the at bat I wanted to score the runner," Chambers said.
Before the game winning RBI, Chambers had struggled at the plate. He struck out, grounded out and recorded a single.
"My last couple at bats weren't that good and I talked to our hitting coach and made a quick adjustment," he said.
State College Manager Gary Robinson said Chambers' desire to seek advice during the game shows that he is a player who is hungry to succeed.
The adjustment Chambers needed to make was to not put so much weight on his back foot when he was striding. He said he and hitting coach Brandon Moore worked before his at bat to keep his weight evenly distributed so he could just throw his hands at the ball.
While Chambers' hit came at the right time, the rest of the offense struggled to gain consistency. After an RBI single from Pat Irvine in the bottom of the second inning, the Spikes only had two more hits until the eighth inning.
The team totaled eight hits on the evening, four of which came from Summerlin, Chambers and first baseman Aaron Baker.
"Tonight we didn't do a whole lot with the bat," Robinson said. "I would like to see us put things together a little more consistently, but you have to give credit to their guys too."
With Muckdogs starter Daniel Calhoun striking out six Spikes batters in his five innings pitched, the Spikes needed to rely on their own starter to outlast the competition.
Kyle McPherson pitched six innings for the Spikes and only yielded one run. The right hander was able to lower his ERA to 3.74 and after striking out four batters he continues to have a team-high 23 strikeouts on the season.
McPherson was replaced by Alan Knotts (2-0) in the seventh inning, who shut down the Muckdogs. Knotts did not surrendering any hits in his two innings of work and handed the game over to Marc Baca would go on to earn his second save of the season.
"Beating the club that we beat tonight was our only focus," Robinson said. "Batavia is a good baseball team and any time we're able to play the game of baseball better than the other club, we're happy."
