First-place Auburn tops Scrappers 3-2

Mahoning Valley dropped six games behind the Doubledays in the division.

AUBURN, N.Y. —Those darn Doubledays.

Auburn improved to 5-0 at home against the Scrappers on Wednesday, defeating Mahoning Valley 3-2 in a New York-Penn League game.

The Scrappers (34-31) finished the season series 2-8 against Auburn (41-26) and fell six games behind the Doubledays in the Pinckney Division standings with nine games to go.

Brett Cecil, the Blue Jays’ supplemental first round pick, started and struck out eight batters over 42⁄3 innings for Auburn.

Heath Taylor, who came in sporting a 1.54 ERA, tossed six shutout innings, striking out seven while giving up five hits for Mahoning Valley.

Daniel Morales (2-1) suffered the loss for the Scrappers, allowing three runs in 1⁄3 of an inning.

Trailing 3-1 in the eighth, the Scrappers pulled to within a run when Karexon Sanchez tripled and scored. Sanchez led the Scrappers with two hits.

But Joe Wice worked a shutout ninth to save it for Auburn.

Benjamin Zeskind, Adam Calderone and Manuel O. Rodriguez each had two hits for the Doubledays.

Mahoning Valley opens a two-game series in Williamsport today at 7:05 p.m.

Kelvin De La Cruz will pitch for the Scrappers.

---

SCRAPPERSAUBURN

abrhbiabrhbi

Thompson ss4000Zeskind4020

Arnal 2b4110Calderone cf4020

K. Sanchez 3b4110Mastroanni 2b3010

Nash 1b3011Rodriguez 1b4120

Jenkins rf4000Emaus 3b4110

Brown cf4000Arencibia c3111

Petrucci lf4000Vasquez dh2000

Valadez c3010Santana rf2000

Flores dh3010L. Sanchez ss3000

Totals33251Totals29391

Scrappers000001010—2

Auburn000003000—3

E—Brettl (2), Sanchez (2), Rodriguez (8). PB—Arencibia (15). DP—Auburn 1. LOB—Scrappers 7, Auburn 5. 2B—Zeskind (11), Mastroianni (7), Rodriguez (14). 3B—Sanchez (2).

IPHRERBBSO

Scrappers

Taylor650007

Morales L, 2-11-333310

Brettl1 1-310011

Pestano1-300000

Auburn

Cecil4 2-320008

Farina111033

Melek W, 3-12 1-311103

Wice S, 6110000

WP—Taylor 2. Umpires—Home, Greg Brown; Bases, Joey Amaral. T—2:28. A—1,303.

HOW THEY SCORED

Scrappers 6th — Arnal singles to center. Sanchez reaches on fielding error (E-3), Arnal to 3rd. Nash walks, Sanchez to 2nd. Jenkins strikes out swinging. With Brown batting, Arnal scores on a passed ball, Sanchez to 3rd, Nash to 2nd. Brown strikes out swinging. Pitching change: Melek replaces Farina. Petrucci strikes out swinging. 1 run, 1 hit, 1 error, 2 LOB.

Doubledays 7th — Rodriguez doubles to center. Emaus singles to center, Rodriguez to 3rd. Arencibia singles to center, Rodriguez scores, Emaus to 2nd. Vasquez sacrifice bunt (1-4), Emaus to 3rd, Arencibia to 2nd. Pinch hitter Ebarb replaces Santana. With Ebarb batting, Emaus scores on wild pitch, Arencibia to 3rd. With Ebarb batting, Arencibia scores on wild pitch. Ebarb walks. Condotta pinch runs for Ebarb. Pitching change: Brettl replaces Taylor. With Sanchez batting, Condotta moves to 2nd on throwing error (E-1). Sanchez strikes out swinging. Zeskind grounds out (1-3). 3 runs, 3 hits, 1 error, 1 LOB.

Scrappers 8th — Arnal flies out (F-9). Sanchez triples to right. Nash grounds out, Sanchez scores. Jenkins flies out (F-7). 1 run, 1 hit, 0 errors, 0 LOB.