AUBURN, NY - Billy Nowlin collected three hits in his second game as a State College Spike, but a big fourth inning by the Auburn Doubledays was the difference as the Spikes fell, 4-2, on Tuesday night at Falcon Park.
Nowlin, who joined the team on Monday and produced two runs batted in during his debut, plated Alex Fuselier in the first inning for State College's (5-14) first run. Two batters later, Derek Trent singled to drive in Nowlin and make it 2-0, Spikes.
State College starter Ryan Hafner (0-1) buzzed through the first three innings, but encountered trouble in the fourth inning. After Adrian Nieto and Matt Skole walked to start the inning, Roberto Perez bunted and Caleb Ramsey singled to bring in both Nieto and Skole to tie the game. Jeremy Mayo and Hendry Jimenez followed with doubles to bring across two more Auburn (11-8) runs and complete the game's scoring.
Fuselier, Justin Bencsko and Matt Skriving joined Nowlin as Spikes with multi-hit games. Skirving doubled in the sixth inning to tie for the team lead in that category with six.
The Spikes left the bases loaded on two occasions, and stranded 11 baserunners total in the game.
Hafner took the loss after allowing the Doubledays' four fourth-inning runs on a total of five hits and three walks. The right-hander added four strikeouts in 4 2/3 innings of work.
Auburn reliever Kelvin Lopez (1-1) got the win with three innings of scoreless relief, yielding three hits and striking out three. Alex Kleis (1) finished off the game with two shutout frames for the save.
Wednesday, 2010 second-round draft pick Stetson Allie (0-0) gets the fourth start of his professional career for the Spikes as they start a three-game set with the Batavia Muckdogs (St. Louis Cardinals) at Dwyer Stadium. Allie made the best start of his career last time out against Mahoning Valley at Medlar Field at Lubrano Park, going four innings and striking out five. Batavia will have right-hander Michael Maness (0-0) on the hill.
