Gonzalez homers twice as Scrappers top Auburn

June 24, 2017 at 12:05a.m.

Gonzalez homers twice as Scrappers

take series finale from Auburn

NILES

Oscar Gonzalez gave the Mahoning Valley Scrappers their first home runs and their third win Friday night.

The Dominican left fielder hit two go-ahead homers and the Scrappers beat the Auburn Doubledays, 5-4, at Eastwood Field. All five runs came off his bat.

“It feels special. Thanks to God for the night,” Gonzalez said through teammate Gianpaul Gonzalez, who was translating. “We’ve won two of three. We’re happy and we’re going to celebrate.”

Trailing 1-0 in the fifth, the Scrappers (3-2) got to Doubledays starter Ben Braymer. Gonzalez hit the team’s first home run of the season to right field to take the lead at 3-1.

Auburn tied the game in the seventh after an RBI triple from Omar Meregildo and Joshual Ramirez’s RBI single, but Gonzalez broke the stalemate at the turn. He followed up on Samad Taylor’s triple with a long ball to right field.

Scrappers starter Zach Plesac made his professional debut Friday. His first pitch was high for ball one, but he made it out of the first inning in just eight pitches. He gave up one hit in three innings, striking out three and walking none.

“I’m really excited about Zach. He showed signs of that in [extended spring training]. He threw really well and we saw a lot of that in extended,” Scrappers manager Luke Carlin said. “His curveball was sharp, some of his sliders got away from him, but I love the fastball. He’s going to be really good here.”

The Indians took Plesac in the 12th round in the 2016 draft out of Ball State. His uncle, Dan Plesac, was a three-time all star in the major leagues with the Milwaukee Brewers in the late 1980s. The younger Plesac missed his entire rookie season while recovering from elbow surgery.

“That was the deal. We had Zach at [three innings or 50 pitches] and he went out there and got it done,” Carlin said.

Also making their pro debuts in Niles were pitchers Jonathan Teaney and Riley Echols. Teaney pitched the sixth and got the win despite giving up two runs. Echols gave up a hit and an unearned run in the eighth. Domingo Jimenez struck out all three batters he faced in the ninth to earn the save.

When Auburn’s Chance Shepard was supposed to hit, he was effective.

In a moment of levity early in the contest, the Doubledays’ first baseman was a little too eager to bat in the top of the second. He was first to the batter’s box, but there was a problem. Centerfielder Randy Encarnacion was ahead of him in the order. Umpire Scott Molloy sent Shepard back to the on-deck circle. When it was his turn to hit — for real — he hit a double.

In the fifth inning, Shepard followed up with a solo home run to right field. He was the only Auburn player with more than one hit.

Shortstop Tyler Friis collected his first professional hit in the sixth. He tried to stretch said it into a double, but was thrown out at second.

First baseman Ulysses Cantu extended his hitting streak to five games with a double in the fifth.

The Doubledays (1-4) pulled one back with Andres Martinez’ sac-fly to put his team within a run of tying the game in the eighth, but got no closer.

The game was delayed at the start for 35 minutes due to rain. Although it rained earlier in the afternoon, there wasn’t any rain during the delay.