Playoff baseball is back in Auburn!The Doubledays secured their first playoff berth since the 2012 season following their 8-5 win over the Batavia Muckdogs. Two four-spots in the game were able to give them the final push to securing their Wednesday night matchup against Hudson Valley in the postseason. The
Playoff baseball is back in Auburn!
The Doubledays secured their first playoff berth since the 2012 season following their 8-5 win over the Batavia Muckdogs. Two four-spots in the game were able to give them the final push to securing their Wednesday night matchup against Hudson Valley in the postseason.
The Doubledays quickly jumped on the Muckdogs and began a scoring frenzy during the very first inning. Back-to-back doubles by Cole Daily - his second leadoff double in as many games - and Pablo O'Connor put Auburn ahead by one, and Jacob Rhinesmith reached first after Batavia catcher Pablo Garcia could not wrangle his strikeout. A double steal then allowed O'Connor to score while Rhinesmith swiped second.
Kyle Marinconz brought "Rhino" in to score on a single, and scored himself one batter later after a soft pop up by Jamori Blash dropped in for a hit. That was all the action Batavia starter Josh Roberson would see during the game, as he was pulled before escaping the first inning.
His replacement, Evan Estes, kept the Doubledays off the board in the second inning but couldn't record an out in the third after Auburn led off the frame with five straight hits. Nic Perkins recorded his 11th RBI over his last eight games after driving in Rhinesmith with a single, and Marinconz doubled to make it back-to-back plate appearances with an RBI. Jamori Blash followed suit with a double that scored two more runs to give the Doubledays their eighth run of the afternoon.
But while the Doubledays managed to score eight runs in two innings, the Muckdogs brought the game to within three runs after hitting some of Auburn's best pitchers uncharacteristically hard. Batavia was able to score twice off of Jake Irvin - who had yet to allow a run as a member of the Doubledays - in the second inning while scoring thrice against Aaron Fletcher and his 1.73 ERA entering the game.
They weren't, however, so lucky against Carson Teel. Teel entered the game in the sixth inning and completely shut down Batavia's offense, allowing zero hits while striking out one. His momentum only stopped in the eighth inning when the game was delayed due to rain, but still managed to finish the inning after an almost 50-minute delay.
The Doubledays will be back in action Wednesday at 6:30 PM to kick off the playoffs against Hudson Valley. All playoff tickets are $5 and are available both online (https://www.milb.com/auburn/tickets/single-game-tickets) and at the Falcon Park Box office.
