2006 ONEONTA TIGERS

By P.J. Harmer

Staff Writer

ONEONTA — If A.J. Van Slyke

Star photo by Julie Lewis Oneonta Tigers first baseman Ryan Strieby tags out Yonathan Sivira of the State College Spikes during the second inning of Friday night’s New York-Penn League game at Damaschke Field. Tigers starting pitcher Jeff Gerbe threw to Strieby for the out.

keeps spending time at second base, Damaschke Field might start charging rent soon.

Van Slyke, who came into Friday’s New York-Penn League game batting .160, hit a two-run double in the top of the ninth inning to give State College a 7-5 victory over the Oneonta Tigers in front of 2,181 fans.

It was Van Slyke’s third double of the game.

"I’ve been getting back into a groove," said Van Slyke, the son of former major leaguer Andy Van Slyke. "I ha[an error occurred while processing this directive]ven’t hit great, but better. I’ve been on the upswing, and tonight was a good night."

Oneonta (18-12) and State College (15-15) play the second game of a three-game series at 7 p.m. Saturday. The teams finish the set at 6 p.m. Sunday.

"They just got the big hits tonight," said O-Tigers manager Tom Brookens, whose team had a four-game winning streak snapped. "Both sides played decent, but every time they seemed like they needed a hit, they got it."

Friday’s meeting came on the heels of Oneonta’s 6-1 victory in 26 innings — the longest NY-Penn game in history — at the Brooklyn Cyclones on Thursday. The Tigers, who shut out the Cyclones for the final 25 innings Thursday, kept State College scoreless for the first 2 1/3 innings Friday.

With a thin pitching staff, Oneonta relied on Jeff Gerbe and Brendan Wise to carry the load. Gerbe allowed four runs on 10 hits in six innings. Wise fell to 0-3 after allowing three runs on four hits in three innings.

"I thought Gerbe was pitching well," Brookens said. "He had a good, live fastball, but he got some up. And I thought Wise threw well."

Wise got Jim Rapoport and Jose Salazar to ground out to short to open the ninth. Nathan Southard followed with a double down the left-field line, and clean-up hitter Mark Hamilton was intentionally walked.

"That’s the right move," Van Slyke said of Hamilton, who came in hitting .292 with eight homers. "Hamilton swings a great bat. They know he can swing, and you also create more out for your infielders."

Van Slyke hit a 2-2 pitch to the right-center field gap, scoring Southard and Hamilton.

"It happens their outfield wasn’t playing the gap and it got in there," Van Slyke said. "I fouled a first-pitch fastball, swung at one over my head and took two balls. The fifth pitch was in the zone and I had to swing. I didn’t hit it well and was kind of shocked."

Said Brookens: "We got ahead of him every time. We didn’t make good pitches on him when we got ahead."

Oneonta took a 1-0 lead in the first. Deik Scram led off with a triple to right-center. Brandon Timm grounded out to third before Brennan Boesch singled to right, scoring Scram. State College tied it in the third on a sacrifice fly from Rapoport.

The Tigers went up again in the fifth. With one out, Louis Ott walked. Scram then doubled to right, putting runners on second and third.

"I felt pretty comfortable tonight," Scram said. "I didn’t know how I’d feel after that 26-inning marathon last night. I had a new approach and wasn’t taking so many pitches."

Timm followed with a groundout to third, scoring Ott and moving Scram to third. Scram then scored on a wild pitch for a 3-1 score.

The Spikes took the lead with a three-run sixth. Southard’s RBI triple and Van Slyke’s RBI double — his second — capped the inning.

Santo De Leon led off the bottom of the sixth with a single to left and moved to third on Jeff Kunkel’s double. Angel Reyes popped out to second for the first out before Joe Tucker walked to load the bases. Ott tied the score at 4 with a groundout to first, but Scram struck out to end the inning.

Timm led off the seventh with a triple to center and scored on a one-out single by Ryan Strieby for a 5-4 Oneonta lead.

State College tied it in the seventh when Rapoport led off with a double and scored on Southard’s one-out double.

"We didn’t hold them," Brookens said. "When we scored, they scored."

———

P.J. Harmer can be reached at mailto:pharmer@thedailystar.com">pharmer@thedailystar.com or 607-432-1000, ext. 229.

SPIKES 7, O-TIGERS 5

STATE COLLEGE ÐØÐØ ONEONTA ÐØÐØØ Ø

ab r h bi Ø ÐØÐØØØ ab r h bi

Rapoport cf 4Ø1Ø1Ø1 Scram cf 5Ø2Ø2Ø0

Salazar ss 3Ø1Ø1Ø0 Timm lf 5Ø1Ø2Ø1

Southard lf 5Ø2Ø3Ø2 Boesch rf 4Ø0Ø1Ø1

Hamilton 1b 4Ø1Ø0Ø0 Strieby 1b 5Ø0Ø1Ø1

VanSlyke dh 5Ø1Ø3Ø3 De Leon 3b 4Ø1Ø1Ø0

Sivira rf 5Ø0Ø0Ø0 Kunkel c 4Ø0Ø2Ø0

Solano 3b 3Ø1Ø3Ø1 Reyes dh 4Ø0Ø0Ø0

Carpenter c 4Ø0Ø2Ø0 Tucker ss 3Ø0Ø2Ø0

Sandoval 2b 4Ø0Ø1Ø0 Ott 2b 3Ø1Ø0Ø1 ÐÐØÐ

Totals ÐØ 37Ø714Ø7 Totals ÐÐ 37Ø511Ø4

State College 001 003 102 — 7

Oneonta 100 021 100 — 5

E Tucker, Gerbe. DP Oneonta 2. LOB—State College 8, Oneonta 8. 2B—Van Slyke 3, Rapoport, Southard, Scram, Kunkel. 3B Southard, Scram, Timm. SB Sandoval 3, Tucker. CS Tucker. S Salazar. SF Rapoport.

IPÐÐHÐRERÐBBÐSO

ÐState College ÐØ ÐØ ÐØ ÐØ ÐØ ÐØ ÐØÐØ

Degerman Ø4ØØØØ4ÐØ1ÐØ1ÐØ0ÐØ5

Marcum Ø1ØØØØ1ÐØ2ÐØ2ÐØ2ÐØ0

Hodinka Ø1ØØØØ2ÐØ1ÐØ1ÐØ1ÐØ1

Motte W, 1-2 Ø2ØØØØ3ÐØ1ÐØ1ÐØ0ÐØ3

Walters S, 5 Ø1ØØØØ1ÐØ0ÐØ0ÐØ0ÐØ1

ÐOneonta ÐØ ÐØ ÐØ ÐØ ÐØ ÐØ ÐØÐØ

Gerbe 6ØØØ10ÐØ4ÐØ4ÐØ1 Ð1

Wise L, 0-3 Ø3ØØØØ4ÐØ3ÐØ3ÐØ1ÐØ3

WP Degerman, Marcum. HBP by Wise (Solano).

T—2:46. A—2,181.