NYPL State College Spikes

Spikes Game Notes

Published on August 10, 2007 under New York-Penn League (NYPL)
State College Spikes News Release


State College Spikes (24 - 25) @ Tri-City Valley Cats (15 - 32)

Friday, August 10th - 7:05 p.m.

Joseph L. Bruno Stadium - Troy, NY

Game # 50 / Road Game #24

LHP Tony Watson (6-1, 2.77) vs. LHP Anthony Bello (1-4, 5.27)

SPIKES STARTER: LHP TONY WATSON will make the start for the Spikes this evening, looking to rebound from his lone rough outing of the season in his last start vs. Auburn. In the game on August 4th, Watson allowed six runs on ten hits over his 5.0 innings. Prior that start, the southpaw had never allowed more than two runs in a game and had a miniscule 1.85 ERA. In his previous eight starts, he had allowed only nine runs. On the road, Watson is 2-1 with a 3.67 ERA, as opposed to 4-0 with a 1.66 ERA at home. Watson is one of five Spikes named to the NYPL All-Star team and comes into tonight's game ninth in the league with a 2.77 ERA and tied for the league lead with six wins. At the University of Nebraska, he was a Preseason All-American heading into his junior season. Tony compiled a 6-4 record with a 4.02 ERA and led his team with 81 strikeouts. During '07 he was named the Big 12 Player of the Week three-times, and was named to the second-team all Big 12 following the year. In 2006, he earned All American and All Big 12 status going 10-2 with a 2.78 ERA. Before being the Pirates 9th round selection in 2007, Watson had been drafted twice - by the Florida Marlins in the 23rd round of the 2003 draft and by the Orioles in the 17th round of the 2006 draft.

TRI-CITY STARTER: LHP ANTHONY BELLO was the Astros' 21st round selection in the 2006 MLB Draft out of Nova Southeastern University in Florida. The southpaw spent the 2006 season with the Greeneville Drive of the Appalachian League, where he went 2-2 with a 1.90 ERA in 14 games. This year, Bello has work exclusively as a starter and comes into tonight's action with a 1-4 record and a 5.27 ERA. Over 41.0 innings of work, the southpaw has allowed 26 runs on 46 hits, while walking 18 and striking out 29. Bello has allowed at least one run in his nine starts, and has not had a decision in any of his three starts at home, despite posting an 8.44 ERA at Joseph L. Bruno Stadium.

ON TAP TONIGHT: The Spikes open up their final non-divisional series of the 2007 series when they take on the Tri-City ValleyCats in Troy, NY. The 'Cats enter the action losers in eight of their last 10 games, and owners of the worst record in the NYPL.

LAST NIGHT'S GAME: The State College Spikes took the rubber game of a three-game set from the Lowell Spinners on Thursday evening by the score of 4-1. Moises Robles (3-7) got the win for State College after tossing five shutout innings, scattering only three hits. Despite leading the league with seven losses, Robles has now allowed only one run over his last 16.2 innings of work.

ALRIGHT AGAINST LEFT: The Spikes have seen an inordinate amount of left-handed pitching of late and two of the ValleyCats scheduled starters for the three game series are also southpaws. Several Spikes have had a great deal of success against lefties, lead by OF Austin McClune who is hitting .429 (15-for-35), OF Marcus Davis who is at .359 (14-for-39) and 1B Justin Byler at .327 (17-for-52). In addition, both of C Nick Stillwagon's home runs have come against lefties. Also, the Spikes has swiped 10 bags against southpaws while they have only been caught four times.

HOME AWAY FROM HOME: The Spikes enter tonight's game against the Tri-City ValleyCats with a .277 batting average on the road. That average is significantly higher than the team's .246 average at Medlar Field at Lubrano Park. The difference can be explained mostly in the play of a pair of Spikes players as OF Keanon Simon is hitting a whopping .463 (19-for-41) on the road while hitting only .200 (12-for-60) at home. Simon comes into tonight's action riding a 11-game road hitting streak that dates back to June 29th. Over that span the former Oklahoma State Cowboy is hitting .475 (19-for-40) with a .523 on base percentage.

C Nick Stillwagon has a similar disparity as he is hitting only .146 (6-for-41) at home, but is a .375 (12-for-32) hitter on the road. The disparity doesn't just affect batters though, as RHP Yoffri Martinez has a 1.80 ERA in five games on the road, but has a 9.82 ERA in four games at Medlar Field at Lubrano Park.

THANK GOD IT'S FRIDAY: SS Brian Friday has been a force from atop the Spikes lineup since recovering from his hand injury which was sustained in the middle of July. Friday is currently riding a 12-game hitting streak dating back to July 19th and he is hitting .321 (17-for-53) with 10 runs scored. The 3rd round selection in the 2007 MLB Draft has appeared in 14 games this season, and has a hit in 12 of the 14 starts. His first game came on July 18th, and he went 0-for-4, his only game without a hit game on July 21st, but Friday was hit by a pitch in his only at-bat and was removed from the game. 3B Allen Craig has the longest hitting streak in Spikes history, at 14-straight games from July 14 - July 31, 2006. Friday is also closing in on another record as he has reached base in all 14 games that he has played in this year, with the longest on-base streak in Spikes history being OF Nathan Southard's 17 straight games.

HEATING UP: The Spikes were glad to see July turn to August, as the team hit only .242 in July and had a 12-16 record during the month. So far, August has been more friendly to the club as the team is hitting .288. The Spikes have also won five of their last eight games, all of which were against teams above .500. OF Marcus Davis, who hit only .212 (11-for-52) in July, has turned it on in August hitting .333 (10-for-30). Davis has already matched his home run total for July with two, and has driven in four runs, only one behind his total for July.

SPAIN'S REIGN: Spikes 3B Bobby Spain has picked up his play of late. The 19th round selection from Oklahoma City University struggled early in the year, with his average dipping to as low as .188 on July 21st after a 1-for-19 slump saw his average plummet. However, since that game, Spain has been swinging one of the hottest bats on the team, hitting .333 (15-for-45) over his last 14 games. He has also increased his RBI production from three during his first 22 games to 10. Spain had also gone 19 games without an extra base hit before he collected five over the last 10 ball games.

STILL AN ALL-STAR: C Nick Still wagon has seen some highs and lows during his baseball career. The former Faulkner University star went undrafted in 2006 and was signed as a non-drafted free agent halfway through the season, on July 17, 2006, after working as a construction worker. A little over a year later, Stillwagon is the only North American born, non-drafted free agent on the 2007 NYPL All-Star Team.

TALKIN' TEN: As the Spikes have picked up their play as of late, the Tri-City Valley Cats have continued to struggle. Tri-City, which owns the worst record in the NYPL, is 2-8 over their last ten and has been hitting .213 as a team over that stretch. OF Steve Brown is the only ValleyCat hitting over .300 during that span.

ADVANCE AT YOUR OWN RISK: The State College Spikes enter tonight's action with a league worst .153 caught stealing percentage as the team has only thrown out 13-of-85 base runners. Conversely the ValleyCats lead the league in that category as they have thrown out .391(27-of-69) of runners. The two primary catchers for Tri-City, Sal Iacono has thrown out 13-of-37 for a .351 percentage, while Kevin Carkeek 13-of-31 for a .419 percentage.

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