BURLINGTON, VT – Despite Pat Irvine’s second home run of the year, two sacrifice flies in the eighth inning brought home the winning runs as the Vermont Lake Monsters topped the State College Spikes, 5-3, at Centennial Field on Friday.

State College (28-27) had a 3-1 lead in the bottom of the sixth, but Destin Hood’s two-run homer off of Spikes starter Kyle McPherson tied it up. Hood then brought home the go-ahead run with his sacrifice fly in the eighth inning, and J.R. Higley followed with another sac fly to give Vermont (25-29) the win. The Lake Monsters committed four errors in the game, but still earned the victory

Irvine drove a solo home run to right to tie the game up, 1-1, in the fifth and collect his team leading 27^th run batted in of the year. The Elon product ended the game a triple shy of the cycle, going 3-for-4 a night after a 4-for-5 performance in Thursday’s doubleheader at Medlar Field at Lubrano Park.

Brock Holt, who will be one of the Spikes’ three representatives at the New York-Penn League All-Star Game on Tuesday, had an RBI, as did Justin Byler. The

Former Spike Gary Amato relieved for Vermont and held State College at bay for 2 1/3 innings, allowing just one unearned run on no hits and no errors. Clayton Dill (3-4) earned the win for the Lake Monsters with two scoreless innings to finish off the game.

Teddy Fallon (1-2) took the loss for State College, allowing both eighth-inning Vermont runs on a hit and two walks while striking out one. All-Star Zach Foster recorded a perfect inning in the seventh for his 12^th scoreless outing in his 14 appearances on the year.

Saturday, the Spikes and Lake Monsters face off at 7:05 p.m. at Centennial Field. Right-hander Maurice Bankston (2-4) gets the nod on the mound for State College, while left-hander Paul Applebee (0-0) will start for Vermont in his first appearance with the Lake Monsters.

While the Spikes are away, great seats are still available for the 2009 New York-Penn League All-Star Game, and tickets to the All-Star Mountain Bash on Monday, August 17 at the Tussey Mountain Ski Resort from 4-9 p.m. are available as well. For ticket information, visit the Medlar Field at Lubrano Park Box Office, call the Spikes toll-free at (877) 99-SPIKES, or log on to StateCollegeSpikes.com.

Fans can catch all of the action on the Spikes Radio Network and flagship station 3WZ at 95.3 FM starting at 6:50 p.m. with the Spikes GameDay Show live from Medlar Field at Lubrano Park.

The Spikes' radio broadcast can also be heard worldwide through the "Listen Live" link on StateCollegeSpikes.com, provided by 95.3-3WZ.

-state college spikes