Tri-City ValleyCats' pinch runner Ben Orloff lived up to his nickname Thursday night against the State College Spikes.

"Mr. Clutch" -- as Orloff has come to be known -- scored the game-winning run on a wild pitch in the bottom of the 10th inning as Tri-City (9-15) defeated the Spikes, 6-5, and finished off a three-game sweep.

"It's a tough loss," Spikes leftfielder Butch Biela said. "Tying up the game in the ninth, and then getting the bases loaded, failing to keep them out is kind of rough. We've lost three in a row, it's kind of rough. But, we played better tonight, we just didn't come out on top."

For Orloff, it was his first action of the night. He entered the game as a pinch runner in the inning for ValleyCat first baseman Nick Stanley, who led off the inning with a double against Spikes reliever Marc Baca (1-2). Baca then hit Jacob Goebbert with a pitch, retired third baseman Erik Castro on a sacrifice bunt and intentionally walked pinch hitter J.D. Martinez to load the bases.

With Brian Kemp pinch hitting, Baca uncorked a wild pitch to the backstop that allowed Orloff to score the winning run.

Tri-City eventually got its desired outcome, but not before State College (13-14) made a furious comeback in the last two innings to erase a 5-2 ValleyCat lead.

Designated hitter Justin Byler sparked a rally in the eighth inning with a lead-off double. First baseman Aaron Baker reached base and both eventually scored

to cut the Tri-City lead down to one.

The eighth inning set the stage for Biela, who came in as a pinch hitter to start the ninth inning against ValleyCat reliever James McDonald. Biela picked a good time to hit his first home run of

the season and tied the game at five.

"It felt great," Biela said. "I had to take a first pitch strike because we were down by one. But he gave me a good pitch, and I was able to tie up the game for my team, so that was a pretty good feeling."

The comeback was made possible by reliever Philip Irwin who pitched a fantastic four innings after entering in the bottom of the sixth inning. Irwin allowed just one run on three hits while striking out six ValleyCats.

State College had a chance in the top of the 10th inning to take the lead off of Tri-City reliever Brenden Stines (1-0) after Spikes right fielder David Rubinstein singled and advanced to second base on an error. Third baseman Pat Irvine walked, but Stines was able to strike out second baseman Ty Summerlin to end the inning.

The Spikes now head to New York City for a weekend series starting Friday with the Staten Island Yankees, and do so on a three-game losing streak.