Doubledays Hold Off Muckdogs Rally in Win

Batavia, NY - Early offense and a "bend don't break" mentality guided Auburn to a bounceback win on the road, as the Doubledays (15-17) stave off a late rally from the Batavia Muckdogs (19-13), 5-4. 
The game went quickly through the first two frames, but the bats began to rumble in the top half of the third inning for Auburn (something they didn't do for the entirety of the day on Wednesday). Doubleday 1B Anthony Peroni tagged a two-run double to right field, scoring 2B J.T. Arruda and 3B Jack Dunn, who both singled to start the inning. The opposite field two-bagger for Peroni was the first scoring for the Doubledays in 13 innings, dating back to Monday night in Lowell. Peroni would soon after score on a wild pitch from LHP Andrew Miller, making it 3-0 Auburn.
The Doubledays had more scoring in store, and it came just an inning later. After singles from Dunn, RF Jake Randa, and SS Jose Sanchez loaded the bases, LF Caldioli Sanfler drove in two with an RBI single off Miller. Sanfler would be thrown out at second at the end of the play, but he gave Auburn a 5-0 lead after 3.5 innings of baseball on Thursday night. 
The Muckdogs tallied their first runs of the contest an inning later, in the bottom half of the fifth inning. Auburn SP Niomar Gomez allowed two runs before exiting the game, which came in odd ways. The first scored on a fielding error by Sanchez at short, and the second run on the books was by way of a sacrifice fly by Batavia's Brayan Hernandez. 
The score remained 5-2 until the bottom of the ninth inning, when Batavia sent a shiver down Auburn's spine. Against RHP Bobby Milacki, Dalvy Rosario hit an RBI double and Troy Johnston plated him with a single up the middle to make it 5-4, with no outs in the inning.
Enter stage right, RHP Pearson McMahan. He came on in relief to end the game, striking out all three Muckdogs that came to the plate against him. 
LHP Evan Lee was Auburn's star of the show, going 2.2 IP in relief of Gomez, allowing just one hit and striking out five while picking up the win. Sanchez, Sanfler, and Dunn all had two-hit days on Thursday, and DH Onix Vega couldn't stop getting on base, going 3-3 with two walks to accompany that. 
The Doubledays and Muckdogs share a series split at 1-1. A doubleheader can change that on Friday in Auburn. First pitch of Game One is at 5:00 p.m., and the action can be heard on FingerLakes1.com of the TuneIn radio app, starting at 4:50 p.m.