UNIVERSITY PARK, Pa. – Stanley Espinal smashed his second home run of the season and ended the State College Spikes’ homerless string at home, but the Tri-City ValleyCats used a late surge to break open the game and take an 11-1 decision on Sunday night at Medlar Field at Lubrano Park.
(Photo courtesy of State College Spikes)
Espinal’s shot to left field brought the Spikes (11-18) to within 2-1 in the fifth inning, and was the first State College homer of the year at Medlar Field at Lubrano Park.
Tri-City (17-12) had earlier used the long ball to take the lead. Alex Holderbach hit his first professional home run in the third inning to give the ValleyCats a 1-0 advantage. Luis Encarnacion followed with another solo blast in the fifth to jump into a tie for the New York-Penn League homer lead with his fourth of the season.
The ValleyCats then scored five runs in the seventh inning to run away with the game, taking advantage of two Spikes errors and getting an RBI single from Holderbach in the process.
Holderbach then followed Michael WIelansky’s run-scoring single with an RBI triple three batters later to cap a three-run eighth for Tri-City and finish the game just a double shy of the cycle.
Trey Dawson’s fielder’s choice in the ninth plated the game’s final run.
Spikes starter Jim Voyles (2-2) delivered a quality start on the mound but took the loss. Voyles yielded four runs, but just three of them earned, on seven hits and two walks over six-plus innings. The righty also struck out two batters.
J.B. Bukauskas, the Houston Astros’ 2017 first-round draft choice, went 3 1/3 innings in his third start for the ValleyCats in a rehab assignment. Bukauskas gave up seven hits but did not allow a run and struck out two batters.
Brett Daniels (1-0) followed Bukauskas and picked up the win with 2 2/3 innings of one-run relief. Daniels gave up a total of two hits and a walk while recording two strikeouts.
The Spikes will now look to take the finale of the three-game series from the ValleyCats on Monday with a special noon start time at Medlar Field at Lubrano Park. Left-hander Jake Dahlberg (0-2) gets the start for State College against Tri-City left-hander Carlos Hiraldo (0-1).
