Doubledays win third straight on road, 6-3

AUBURN, N.Y. - The Auburn Doubledays (16-7) played one of their more complete games of the season on Thursday night, downing the Aberdeen Ironbirds (9-15) 6-3 in front of 6,565 at Ripken Stadium. The Doubledays have now won three consecutive games on the road to improve their record away from home to 5-4.

Auburn took its first three-run lead in the top of the sixth. Already up 1-0, 3B Carlos Lopez lead off the inning by getting aboard with a walk. Right fielder Jordan Poole followed that up with a double to center field, putting two in scoring position with no one out. Center fielder Wander Ramos drove both runners home on a single up the middle, putting the Doubledays ahead 3-0. The single by Ramos was the only one of six Doubledays hits at that point in the game that had not gone for extra bases.

The two runs for Auburn in the top of the sixth were answered right away in the bottom of the frame by the Ironbirds. Again a leadoff walk turned out to be costly, as SS Anthony Caronia received the free pass to begin the inning, and then he was driven home by a triple off the bat of CF Anthony Vega. Vega also scored in the inning when the next batter, 2B Creede Simpson, grounded out to short making it 3-2.

The Doubledays came back with two more runs in the seventh to re-take the three run advantage. Three consecutive singles by the two, three, and four hitters in the lineup (2B Tony Renda, 1B Shawn Pleffner, and LF Estarlin Martinez) loaded the bases with no one out. Those three singles were followed by back-to-back strikeouts, giving Aberdeen a chance to get out of the inning unscathed. However, with two outs all of a sudden RHP Sander Beck couldn't find the strike zone, and he issued back-to-back walks, which plated two runs for Auburn and put the Doubledays ahead 5-2.

Each team added a run in the eighth to set up the final score. RHP David Fischer (1-1) earned the win for Auburn by going for innings and allowing two earned runs on two hits, while walking one and striking out two. Starting LHP Cameron Coffey (0-4) took the loss for Aberdeen, going five innings and surrendering one earned run on four hits, walking two and striking out three. RHP Derek Self picked up his second save of the season by pitching the final 1.1 innings for Auburn without giving up a run or a hit.

The Doubledays wrap up their three game series with Aberdeen on Friday, July 13. Auburn will send LHP Nick Lee (0-0) to the mound for his third start of the year. He will square off against RHP Sebastian Vader (0-2) for Aberdeen. First pitch is scheduled for 7:05pm. All Doubledays road games can be heard on WAUB 98.1FM and 1590AM, and online at www.fingerlakesdailynews.com by clicking on the WAUB stream under the "listen" tab.