BATAVIA, N.Y. - Barrett Barnes collected the first four-hit game of the 2012 season for the State College Spikes, and Clay Holmes earned his second victory in as many professional starts as the Spikes topped the Batavia Muckdogs, 6-2, on Wednesday night at Dwyer Stadium.
Barnes went 4-for-5 at the plate, with base hits in each of his first four at-bats. The Pirates' 2012 supplemental first-round draft choice also added an RBI and scored two runs.
Holmes (2-0) yielded just one unearned run over his five innings on the mound. The 19-year-old right hander, who signed with Pirates in 2011 after being drafted in the ninth round but saw no pro action until this year, walked five batters but allowed just one hit and struck out four.
State College (7-3) struck first on the scoreboard when Ryan Hornback singled in a pair of runs in a bases-loaded situation in the first inning. Barnes then drove in D.J. Crumlich to give the Spikes a 3-0 lead in the third inning.
Batavia (4-6) scratched its first and only run off of Holmes in the fifth inning. After Steve Ramos walked and stole second base, Holmes erred on what would have been the final out of the inning to let Ramos cross the plate and make the score 3-1. The Muckdogs added another run in the sixth when Patrick Wisdom led off the inning with a double and scored on a Ramos single.
However, the Spikes broke open the game in the eighth inning, just as they did in a win over Batavia on Monday night. State College collected five hits in the frame, including three doubles. Hornback's bases-loaded double brought in two of those runs, giving the Spikes catcher four runs batted in on the night, a single-game high for a State College player this season.
Walker Gourley also contributed a pair of doubles to the Spikes' offensive effort.
Joan Montero added three more strikeouts in two innings of relief work for State College, giving the fireballer 13 strikeouts in a total of 8 1/3 innings this year. Kyle Haynes pitched a perfect ninth to finish off the Spikes' win, striking out two. The State College pitching staff retired a total of 11 Muckdogs on strikes during the evening.
Muckdogs starter Daniel Bibona (0-1) took the loss after giving up three runs on five hits and two walks over four innings of work. Bibona also notched three strikeouts on the night.
The win enabled the Spikes to claim their second straight series victory, and first on the road this season.
State College heads to Eastwood Field in Niles, Ohio to start a three-game series against the Mahoning Valley Scrappers tonight at 7:05 p.m. The Spikes will have right-hander Jason Creasy (0-1), the eighth-round draft choice of the Pirates in 2011, on the mound. Mahoning Valley will go with right-hander Geoffrey Davenport (0-1).
