After the Doubledays pounded the Tigers in Game 1, Jacob Butler went 5-for-6 with six RBIs on Sunday to lead Auburn to a 16-5 victory and a two-game sweep of the Division Championship Series at Damaschke Field. The Doubledays jumped out to a 4-0 lead in the opening frame. Ryan Patterson hit a two-out double before Nick Thomas and Joey Metropoulos walked. Butler ripped a bases-clearing double and scored on a single by Brian Bormaster, but the inning cost Auburn as Metropoulos injured his leg on a collision at home plate and had to be helped off the field. In the third, the Doubledays exploded for seven runs to put the game out of reach. Brian Pettway, batting for Metropoulos, laced an RBI triple and scored on a single by Butler that chased starter Jay Sborz. After a walk to Bormaster and a sacrifice that moved both runners into scoring position, Chris Gutierrez delivered a two-run single. Sean Shoffit followed with a single and Cory Patton smashed a three-run homer to open up an 11-0 lead. Patton led the league with 14 homers during the season. Sborz (0-1) surrendered seven runs on six hits and three walks in two-plus innings. The Tigers got on the board in the third on William Rhymes' sacrifice fly but wasted an opportunity by leaving the bases loaded. Both teams scored a pair of runs in the fourth. Jermy Acey's RBI double and Gutierrez's RBI single pushed Auburn's lead to 13-1, but Oneonta scored twice on a botched double play with the bases loaded. Butler, who went 7-for-11 in the two-game series with two doubles, six runs and seven RBIs, knocked in two more runs with a fifth-inning single. The 22-year-old left fielder was promoted to Auburn on Aug. 28 from Pulaski of the Appalachian League. The Tigers made it 15-4 on a seventh-inning sacrifice fly by Justin Justice, but the Doubledays answered in the eighth with back-to-back triples by Patton and Matt Cooksey to regain a 12-run cushion. Oneonta capped the scoring in the eighth on an RBI double by Jeramy Laster. Randy Dicken (1-0) picked up the win with two scoreless innings in relief of starter Kristian Bell, who allowed three runs on four hits in four innings. Peter Eberhardt and Adrian Martin each gave up one run in one inning before Paul Phillips tossed a scoreless ninth. The New York-Penn League finals begin on Wednesday. Auburn, which last won the championship in 1998, will take on the winner of the Williamsport-Staten Island series. This story was not subject to the approval of the National Association of Professional Baseball Leagues or its clubs. |
Skip to main content
