Spikes Take Down Crosscutters in Series Opener
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Updated: July 19, 2012
Holmes (3-1) retired the first 14 Williamsport (11-2) batters he faced in the game before yielding a single up the middle to Yan Carlos Olmo with two outs in the fifth inning. The 19-year-old right-hander struck out four during his tenure on the mound, and increased his streak of scoreless innings for State College (16-15) to 15 while notching his third win as a professional.
Although the game was delayed 45 minutes at the outset due to rain, the Spikes wasted no time giving Holmes an early lead. Tyler Gaffney led off the bottom of the first inning with a single, and then stole second and third base before scoring on D.J. Crumlich's RBI single. Stallings then followed with the first of his three hits, doubling in Barrett Barnes to make it 2-0. Diaz completed State College's scoring in the first with a sacrifice fly.
All of the Spikes' remaining runs came with two outs. Diaz added another run batted in with a two-out single in the third inning to make it 4-0, State College. In the fifth inning, Stallings drove in Barnes with a two-out single and got to second on an error. One batter later, Diaz produced his third RBI by driving in Stallings to give the Spikes a 6-0 lead. The margin then extended to seven runs when Gaffney was hit by a pitch with two outs in the sixth and crossed the plate on Walker Gourley's double.
Williamsport would get on the board in the seventh inning when Chris Serritella hit a towering two-run homer to right-center field. In the final frame, the Crosscutters threatened briefly after Larry Greene doubled in a run and Serritella contributed his third RBI, putting the tying run on deck. However, Tom Harlan regrouped to get the final two outs and secure the Spikes' win.
From State College Spikes reports:
