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‘‘It’s a great day for a ball game; let’s play two!’’

That was the famous quote of former Chicago Cubs first baseman Ernie Banks.

It also sounds pretty good to Jamestown Jammers first baseman Ernie Banks.

And that’s because the Jammers will feel like they are playing a doubleheader. Just about 12 hours after Banks drove in the winning run for 7-6 New York-Penn League victory over the State College Spikes on Tuesday night, they will be right back on the field at Diethrick Park.

This morning at 10:45 a.m. they are scheduled to meet the Spikes again.

None of the Jamestown players will mind being back in action so quickly, thanks to Banks’ two-out clutch hit in the bottom of the ninth.

With the score tied at 6, Lonnie Lechelt of the Jammers led off the bottom of the ninth with a single and with one out he stole second and moved to third on a errant throw by the catcher. He was still at third with two outs when Ben Lasater worked out a walk and he eventually ‘‘stole second’’ on catcher’s indifference.

That brought to the plate Banks, who had already doubled in the second inning. He battled against State College reliever Gary Amato and after fouling off a few pitches, he ripped a line drive just inside the third-base bag that was identical to his two-bagger in the second. But since the winning run scored from third, it was only scored as a single.

But that was fine with Banks, who hit .324 for the Florida Marlins’ Gulf Coast League team last season.

‘‘I knew he was going to pound me with fastballs and kept fouling them back,’’ Banks said. ‘‘I thought he was going to come with a deuce (curveball), but he came with a changeup so I was like, ‘Hey, it’s more for me.’’’

Jamestown manager Darin Everson said, ‘‘He did a great job. He let the pitches come to him and didn’t try to do too much. He does a great job when he’s looking for his pitch and looking to drive it hard.’’

It was a dramatic end to an up-and-down game for the Jammers, who led twice, only to see the Spikes bounce back and take the lead or tie.

‘‘The pitchers hung in there and the hitters did what we had to do, we executed,’’ Banks said. ‘‘Hey, that’s a great game to win.’’

Jamestown opened the scoring in the third inning when Banks doubled down the left-field line, moved to third on a passed ball and scored on a groundout by Miguel Fermin.

Benefitting from the lead was Jammers starting pitcher Johnny Dorn, Florida’s 15th-round draft pick from Nebraska, and he pitched three shutout innings in which he allowed two hits.

The lead was erased in the fourth inning against Jamestown reliever Geury Ramirez. He gave up a lead-off single to Matthew Hague and Calvin Anderson followed with a home run to left field. Then Ramirez loaded the bases with a single, a hit batter and walk and the third run of the inning scored when Silvio Pena hit into a double play for a 3-1 Spikes’ lead.

Ramirez went on to pitch three innings and retired seven of the last eight batters he faced.

Allen Ponder came on to pitch in the seventh inning for State College, still leading 3-1, and he gave up a single to Mitch MacDonald between a flyout and a strikeout. Ray White came in to pinch run for MacDonald and with two outs, Lechelt laid a perfect bunt down the third base line. Third baseman Matthew Hague fielded the ball cleanly with his bare hand, but then threw wild to first and White came around to score while Lechelt stayed at first. A single by Kevin Mattison and a walk to Paul Gran loaded the bases. Then Lasater unloaded them with a grand slam homer to left field and suddenly Jamestown was in front, 6-3.

‘‘It was a fastball in,’’ said Lasater, who played first base for the Jammers last season. ‘‘I thought it had a good shot of getting out of here. The ball flies pretty good to left’’

The key to the entire inning was Lechelt’s bunt, which he put down on his own.

‘‘We talked about two innings before, about how wet it was, about how much water was getting on that ball just on a simple bunt,’’ Everson said. ‘‘You kind of saw with Fermin (who had a bunt single in the fourth inning). That was obviously a big play at the time and having White over there, who can run, he was in full gear. It gave us a little momentum and it just went from there.’’

The Jammers had scored five runs after two were out to take the lead. But the Spikes came right back and scored three runs after two were out and no one was on base to tie the game in the top of the eighth inning against Jamestown reliever Adam Campbell.

Three straight singles by Anderson, Latermore and Mark Carver produced the first run. Then Josue Peley singled home the second run. Pena followed with a grounder to third base that Lasater let go through his legs for an error and the tying run scored from second base.

‘‘He hasn’t played third in a year and he’s done nothing but impress at third,’’ Everson said. ‘‘He’s going to be fine there.’’

That error was forgotten when Lasater worked out a walk to the keep the bottom of the ninth alive so Banks could come through with his game-winning hit.

NOTES: The first pitch was delayed 29 minutes because of a rainstorm about an hour before the original start time of 7:05 p.m. ... From about the third inning until the end, the game was played in a heavy drizzle.

 

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