When right fielder David Rubinstein returned home from the team's last road trip he knew changes needed to be made.
The players realized they needed to either improve their offense or the team's hopes of having its first ever winning season would soon be gone.
For this resilient group, learning from a rough road trip will help them become the Spikes' winningest team since their inception in 2006. Not only will they record the most wins, but come September, they will challenge for a playoff spot.
While the six consecutive losses on the road left the Spikes plummeting below .500 and had fans fearing the team had relapsed into the 18-win squad that took the field in 2008, the Spikes' recent three game win streak shows that their offense is evolving.
Even though the Spikes' offense, which had kept them at about .500, had suddenly vanished when their strongest batter Kyle Morgan was promoted to Single A-West Virginia, this team did what any good team does. They made adjustments.
After tallying just 31 hits during the entire six-game road trip the Spikes focused on improving their approach in the batter's box.
The team was able to use the eight home games to make minor batting adjustments, which have been paying major dividends. Rubinstein said hitting coach Brandon Moore helped him simplify his swing, and it's shown during the latest road trip.
The Spikes have torched the Auburn Doubledays and Jamestown Jammers with 36 hits in four games. And the hits have directly translated into wins. Three wins in three days to be exact.
Twenty-four hits in the first two games means the Spikes are indeed capable of scoring runs, it's just a matter of doing it consistently.
Even the bench players have embraced the opportunity to aid the surging offense. Manager Gary Robinson was able to find a hot bat in one of the most unlikely places. Third baseman Carlos Silva, who had only appeared in two games before the road trip, has found himself a place in the Spikes' record book.
Silva's three doubles in the first game of the road trip made him just the second Spikes player to ever accomplish that feat. After hitting four doubles during the trip and notching three RBI's, Silva concluded the trip with a .429 batting average.
The three road wins have put the Spikes one game below .500 and proves that they will at least flirt with the idea of being a playoff team. And for a team that just a year ago only recorded 18 wins, that in itself is an accomplishment.
This team refuses to quit and they will continue to do so because they are playing in uncharted territory. At this point last year the team was already focusing on the offseason, but this recent offensive surge will be just the beginning of a record-breaking season.
Audrey Snyder is a sophomore majoring in Journalism and Secondary Education and is a Collegian Spikes writer. Her email address is aas5220@psu.edu.
