Scrappers lose in 10

Auburn won, 2-1, to move to within a half-game of Mahoning Valley.
NILES -- Brian Bormaster could not have picked a more opportune time to hit his first home run of the New York-Penn League season.
Truth was that he was just hoping to get any opportunity to hit so he could help kick start an Auburn Doubledays' offense that pretty much lie dormant during Saturday's game with the Mahoning Valley Scrappers.
His solo home run to lead-off the 10th inning proved to be the difference as the Doubledays stopped the Scrappers for the second day in a row, 2-1 at Eastwood Field.
"I was just trying to get good wood on the ball, wanting to get the barrel of the bat on the pitch," Bormaster said. "I was thinking fastball and it was a fastball on a 3-2 count, right in my wheel house so I couldn't pass up the pitch that I was looking for.
"To win like we did today just reaffirms the unique rivalry between two solid teams that are pretty evenly matched," Bormaster said.
With the loss, the Scrappers fell to 20-19 overall while the Doubledays (19-19) climbed back to the .500 mark by taking two of the three games in the series.
The Doubledays are a half game behind Mahoning Valley for first-place in the Pinckney Division.
"We had our chances today but just couldn't capitalize," Scrapper manager Rouglas Odor said. "We couldn't get the big hit.
Pitchers excelled
"Struggling to score could be a combination of a lot of things, but we'll fight through that," Odor said. "Our pitchers did an outstanding job once again of keeping us in the game. They made a few mistakes but this is a game of adversity and they just kept coming back at you."
Jensen Lewis, whose three wins this season is tops on the Scrappers staff, got the start and responded by allowing just two hits and one run, striking out five in his six innings of work.
"I felt that I threw the ball well today and really would like only two pitches back; a fastball to [Brian] Pettway and a slider to [Nick] Thomas," Jensen said. "I don't feel any added pressure when the team struggles at the plate because their bats will come around.
"I wanted to keep the ball down in the zone and was happy to accomplish that today," Lewis said.
Pettway's fourth home run of the season off of Jensen in the third inning staked the Doubledays to a 1-0 lead. That lead would remain intact until the Scrappers' half of the eighth when Mahoning Valley finally got their lead-off runner aboard.
Jose Constanza led off the inning with a walk and after Trevor Mortensen struck out, Matt Fornasiere's flyball well off of Pettway's glove, putting runners on second and third.
Doubledays reliever Dewon Day then threw a wild pitch on an intentional walk attempt to Derrick Peterson, allowing Constanza to score and knot the game at a run apiece.
Runners stranded
Day proceeded to strike out catcher Omar Casillas and got Cirilo Cumberbatch to ground out to the shortstop as the Scrappers stranded runners at the corners to end the inning.
After Bormaster's home run, Auburn reliever Paul Phillips allowed a lead-off walk to Constanza in their half of the inning, then proceeded to throw three straight groundball outs for his fifth save of the year.
Today, the Scrappers open a three-game series with the Vermont Expos in Burlington, Vt. They will return home for a six-game homestand beginning Thursday with the Staten Island Yankees and the Brooklyn Cyclones.
Last week's six-game homestand saw the Scrappers get shutout twice while scoring one run in two other contests. They also registered a 5-0 shutout against the Auburn in the first game of the Doubledays series.
AUBURNSCRAPPERS
abrhbiabrhbi
Shoffit 2b5000Cnstanza cf3110
Cooksey cf3000Mortensen dh4000
Patton dh3000Frnasiere 2b5000
Patterson lf4000Peterson 3b4000
Thomas 1b4010Casillas c4020
Bormaster c4111Cmbrbtch rf4000
Pettway lf3121Thomas3000
Garibaldi 3b2000De Leon lf1000
Sena ss4000Clark 1b4000
Chavez ss4020
Totals32242Totals36150
Auburn0010000001--1
Scrappers0000000100--2
E--Shoffit, Pettway, Peterson, Chavez. LOB--Auburn 5, Scrappers 9. 2B--Thomas. 3B--Casillas.HR--Bormaster. SB--Peterson. CS--Shoffit.
IPHRERBBSO
Auburn
Dicken5 2-350007
Martin1 1-300000
Day101022
Stidfole W 2-1100002
Phillips S, 5100010
Scrappers
Lewis621115
Jecman210001
Roddy L 2-2210011
WP--Day. Umpires--Home, Mario Seneca; Bob Boyle, First. T--2:58. A--3,280.