AUBURN - The blast came too little, too late. By the time Shawn Scobee earned his third home run of the season, in the bottom of the ninth, an Auburn Doubledays comeback seemed out of reach.
Glenn Gaston / Special to The Citizen
Auburn Doubledays Darin Mastroianni gets a big lead off first base as State College pitcher Dionis Rodriguez throws to home during Friday's game at Falcon Park in Auburn.
Auburn Doubledays Darin Mastroianni gets a big lead off first base as State College pitcher Dionis Rodriguez throws to home during Friday's game at Falcon Park in Auburn.
As the bottom of the lineup retired in order, the door officially closed on the game and, nearly, the series as State College won its second straight game over Auburn 6-2 at Falcon Park on Friday.
Before Chris Haupt got his third hit of the season just prior to Scobee's blast, the Doubledays managed just four hits against Moises Robles, who got the win, and Dionis Rodriguez, who got the four inning save. Instead, the Doubledays defense, which went without an error, could only watch as the Spikes racked up nine hits of their own, including four doubles and two triples.
Just like the night before, the Spikes were contained before a four-run fourth inning that put the game out of reach. Also like the night before, they knocked in another run in the fifth to add insult to injury. A Matt Cavignaro RBI double in the sixth all but sealed the deal for the Spikes, who are now just 3.5 games behind the Doubledays in the Pinckney Division. Second place Mahoning Valley is only 1.5 games back.
Like Robles (2-7), Doubledays pitcher Luis Perez (1-3) made his ninth start of the season. Both pitchers lasted five innings and walked four batters, but Perez gave up five hits to Robles' one and got the loss. With an out in the fourth, Erik Huber scored Justin Byler on a double. Marcus Davis followed with a two out single to score Huber and one walk later, Austin McClune completed the inning with a two run triple. Miles Durham hit a long sacrifice fly to center field to score Byler, who reached on a triple.
Cody Crowell lasted only the sixth inning for the Doubledays, his shortest outing in a loss since June 24. Noah Tritz finished up the game and allowed two hits and threw three strikeouts in three innings, his longest outing of the year.
The Doubledays stranded seven runners, including two leadoff walks in the first innings. After the five batter first inning, there were no more than four batters in any inning until the ninth. Catcher J.P. Arencibia paced the offense with two hits, including a double.
Auburn (25-19) finishes up the series with State College (21-22), today.
Before Chris Haupt got his third hit of the season just prior to Scobee's blast, the Doubledays managed just four hits against Moises Robles, who got the win, and Dionis Rodriguez, who got the four inning save. Instead, the Doubledays defense, which went without an error, could only watch as the Spikes racked up nine hits of their own, including four doubles and two triples.
Just like the night before, the Spikes were contained before a four-run fourth inning that put the game out of reach. Also like the night before, they knocked in another run in the fifth to add insult to injury. A Matt Cavignaro RBI double in the sixth all but sealed the deal for the Spikes, who are now just 3.5 games behind the Doubledays in the Pinckney Division. Second place Mahoning Valley is only 1.5 games back.
Like Robles (2-7), Doubledays pitcher Luis Perez (1-3) made his ninth start of the season. Both pitchers lasted five innings and walked four batters, but Perez gave up five hits to Robles' one and got the loss. With an out in the fourth, Erik Huber scored Justin Byler on a double. Marcus Davis followed with a two out single to score Huber and one walk later, Austin McClune completed the inning with a two run triple. Miles Durham hit a long sacrifice fly to center field to score Byler, who reached on a triple.
Cody Crowell lasted only the sixth inning for the Doubledays, his shortest outing in a loss since June 24. Noah Tritz finished up the game and allowed two hits and threw three strikeouts in three innings, his longest outing of the year.
The Doubledays stranded seven runners, including two leadoff walks in the first innings. After the five batter first inning, there were no more than four batters in any inning until the ninth. Catcher J.P. Arencibia paced the offense with two hits, including a double.
Auburn (25-19) finishes up the series with State College (21-22), today.
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