Doubledays Drop Series Opener Against Williamsport

With 18 of the game's first 19 batters retired over the first three innings, all signs pointed towards a pitchers duel between Doubledays righty Francys Peguero and Williamsport's Juan Escorcia in a hot one down at BB&T Ballpark. But an early pitchers duel turned into a Crosscutters slugfest, with Williamsport erasing an eighth inning Doubledays rally to secure a 7-3 win at home.
Peguero started the game strong, punching out four batters over his first three innings while allowing only one baserunner - an Edwin Rodriguez double in the third inning.
The Doubledays followed closely behind and got their first base runner of the day in the top of the fourth inning after having no luck against Escorcia. Even then, it was only due to a throwing error from third baseman Jesus Henriquez that allowed Jamori Blash to reach after working a full count.
Some heads-up baserunning and a timely double allowed the Crosscutters to strike first in the bottom of the fourth, with Matt Vierling stealing second and scoring on a ground-rule double from Danny Mayer. Peguero nearly gave up what could have been Williamsport's second run of the inning off of a Brayan Gonzalez single, but a perfect relay from right fielder Ricardo Mendez to catcher Adalberto Carrillo nabbed Mayer at home.
Peguero ended his night after four innings, allowing one run on four hits with four strikeouts.
Southpaw Gilberto Chu relieved Peguero for the night, but unfortunately couldn't replicate his results out the gate. He gave up a pair of runs in the fifth inning on three hits, including an RBI double from Edwin Rodriguez.
The Doubledays were able to make things interesting, however, notching their first two runs on wild pitches - both of which came following Auburn triples. Nick Choruby hit his three-bagger and scored in the sixth, and Phil Caulfield followed suit in the eighth. Blash, who came up big multiple times during the Doubledays' opening series against the Batavia Muckdogs, then tied up the game, 3-3, with an RBI groundout.
But that's where the excitement ended for Auburn. Williamsport notched four unanswered runs in the eighth inning - three of which came off back-to-back triples - to give the Crosscutters a 7-3 victory over the Doubledays.
The Doubledays (2-2) will be back in action tomorrow against Williamsport (2-2) at 7:05 PM.