In the third inning the State College Spikes were still looking for their first hit--and they found it, courtesy of the bottom third of the lineup.
Left fielder Pat Irvine led off the inning with a single up the middle and was brought home, along with catcher Matt Skirving, when Cole White bounced a ball off the right field wall for a stand-up double. White would go on to score when Gift Ngoepe tripled to right field.
As the Spikes went scoreless in the fourth, it was up to White to lead off and help set the tone for the team yet again in the fifth -- and he delivered. After singling and stealing second base, White scored his second run of the night as leadoff hitter Mel Rojas Jr. singled over second base.
White, who finished 3-4 with two RBI, found himself with his second consecutive three-hit game and scored two of the spikes five runs. Irvine also finished 3-4 with an RBI and a run scored as he and White finished with six of the teams 10 hits and three of the five runs.
White, who in his last two games has gone 6-for-7 with five RBI received credit from his skipper about his presence at the plate.
"Cole's starting to get it," State College manager Gary Robinson said.
Robinson knows what White and Irvine can bring, even at the bottom of the lineup. Irvine, who was demoted to the Spikes on July 11 from the West Virginia Power, is third on the team with a .308 batting average and Robinson said he came down to do just that -- hit.
"Irvine's always been able to hit," Robinson said. "He's just needed some at-bats,"
