Two errors, 13 strikeouts and just three hits were enough to take away the State College Spikes' hopes of sweeping the three-game series.
After a 5-2 win over Batavia (32-31) in the first game of the doubleheader, the Muckdogs bounced back to down the Spikes 4-1. Spikes' starter Victor Black (1-1) was charged with the loss after surrendering an earned run in his three innings of work.
While the right-handed Black struck out four batters, Muckdogs' starter Jesse Simpson silenced the Spikes' (32-31) bats. Simpson pitched four innings while only giving up two hits and striking out eight.
"He had a lot of movement on his fastball," shortstop Ty Summerlin said. "We haven't seen a lot of movement like what he was throwing tonight and we just weren't barreling up the ball."
The Spikes only recorded three hits during the game and their 13 strikeouts made it the second time that they reached double digits during the series.
Summerlin was the only State College player with multiple hits as he went 2-for-3 with two singles and one strikeout. The shortstop said the pitchers' dominance stalled the team's offense, but that they didn't help themselves defensively.
The Spikes found themselves down 3-0 after a mistake-plagued third inning. The inning began when Muckdogs' center fielder Travis Mitchell reached first base safely on a fielding error by third baseman Pat Irvine.
After issuing a walk to the following batter, second baseman Devin Goodwin ripped a double to left field that plated two runs. The runs put the Muckdogs on the board first and two outs later Irvine recorded his second error of the inning as the Muckdogs went up by three runs. Irvine now leads the Spikes with 15 errors on the season.
"We had a bad inning," Summerlin said. "We talked about it and stuff like that happens, but we still took two out of three from a real good team with great pitching."
Summerlin said the Spikes need to put the inning and game behind them as they continue their
road trip with a three-game
series against the Jamestown Jammers.
"We just have to come back out tomorrow and play the way we did in the first game tonight, and we will be fine," Summerlin said.
