Spikes' Summerville settles in, allows one hit

Andrew Summerville was struggling to pitch deep into games through his first five professional starts. After a change in approach, he's pitched into the seventh inning in three straight.
The Cardinals prospect spun seven one-hit innings on Friday as Class A Short Season State College blanked Williamsport, 2-0, at Medlar Field at Lubrano Park. He struck out seven and walked two, retiring 19 of the final 20 batters he faced.

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"I've adopted this approach of trying to get soft contact within three pitches or less," Summerville said. "Obviously, that's a good result."
Summerville's early results weren't quite as good as he allowed a single to the second batter he faced, Phillies No. 14 prospectCole Stobbe. After picking Stobbe off first base, Summerville (4-0) walked Yahir Gurrola and Greg Pickett on a combined nine pitches before escaping the opening inning when Jake Scheiner flied to right.
"I think that first inning really could be attributed to the fact that I was throwing the ball but not with the intent I would like to," Summerville said. "When you don't throw a ball with full intent behind it, you're going to get walks, like I did there. The adjustment for me mentally was to make sure I was throwing the ball to a spot with as much intent as possible."

The 21-year-old Washington native was on cruise control from that point, retiring the next 10 batters before Josh Stephen reached on an error by second baseman Zach Kirtley with one out in the fifth. Summerville quickly made Stephen his second pickoff victim before mowing down the final seven batters, four on strikeouts.
"I was able to throw my changeup more effectively as the innings went on," he said. "In the first, I wasn't getting ahead and I was behind the eight-ball and unable to throw the pitches I wanted to. As a result of being better about my intent and location early in the count and getting first-pitch strikes, I can work in the changeup that can get some ground balls and swings and misses. It's kind of my bread and butter pitch."
The 12th-round pick in this year's draft worked out of the bullpen in his first three appearances with the Spikes before moving into the rotation. He posted a 1.46 ERA in winning three of his first five starts, despite issuing 14 walks in 24 2/3 frames, but he's curbed the free passes over his last three outings, issuing three over 20 1/3 innings while allowing 12 hits.
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"The second thing that's helping me [pitch deep] is some incredible defensive plays," Summerville said. "Tonight, we had a diving play by Bryce Denton in left, got Matt Davis sliding into the tarp down the first base line and two great pickoff calls by the skipper to allow me to save some pitches."
Overall, Summerville has a 1.63 ERA and 1.09 WHIP in 10 games, including seven starts, striking out 43 against 19 walks over 49 2/3 innings. His ERA ranks second in the New York-Penn League, an improvement over his totals as a junior at Stanford, where he went 5-2 with a 4.10 ERA over 74 2/3 innings in 15 games, including 13 starts.
"There's definitely a transition to be made from college to pro ball," Summerville said. "In this case, I leaned on the guidance of skipper Joe Kruzel and pitching coach Darwin Marrero for guidance on the transition, and I'm also learning from my teammates. They've had at least a full season or two behind him, so I can lean on both my coaches and teammates for advice."
His State College teammates aren't Summerville's only outlet for advice on the Minor Leagues. His brother, Peter, plays multiple roles for the Class A Rancho Cucamonga Quakes, including bullpen catcher, first base coach and "performance science coach."

"My brother coaches for the Dodgers' Class A Advanced team and he's been instrumental in my success, having some experience in Minor League baseball," Summerville said. "So I'd like to send thanks to him and my parents for allowing me to succeed and thrive thus far."
Robbie Gordon struck out four and yielded one hit over the final two innings for his second save, finishing off the Spikes' third shutout of the season.
Edwin Figuera had three of State College's seven hits, while Yariel Gonzalez was 2-for-3 with an RBI single in the sixth. Denton's first-inning sacrifice fly opened the scoring for the Spikes.
Crosscutters starter Kyle Young (5-2) allowed two runs on five hits and a walk with four strikeouts over 5 2/3 innings.