Doubledays Drop Rubber Game Against Black Bears

The Doubledays (21-35) fell to the Black Bears (31-25) in a rain-shortened affair on Tuesday, dropping the rubber game to West Virginia in eight innings, 7-2. 
Auburn starter Niomar Gomez struggled on the mound against the West Virginia offense. After allowing just one run over five strong innings his last outing against State College, Gomez was hit early and often in his 4.2 innings of work. He allowed eight hits and six runs (four earned) en route to his fourth loss of the season. 
The Doubledays fell victim to a two out hit-by-pitch in the second inning that came around to score on a Victor Ngoepe double. Then, in the third inning, Gomez was put back on the hot seat by allowing a leadoff double and then a single to put runners at the corners. A sacrifice fly gave the Black Bears a two-run lead, while a missed catch from Anthony Peroni at first base with two outs allowed their third run to score. 
The Black Bears scored once more in the fourth inning before the Doubledays were able to push their first run across in the fifth. After doubling his last time up, Anthony Peroni led off the inning with a walk and advanced to second base on a two-out single from Wilmer Perez. He came around to score on a fly ball from J.T. Arruda, but a lineout from Andrew Pratt ended the inning. 
Despite finally getting some run support, Gomez was unable to record a shutdown inning and gave up a pair of runs before being replaced on the mound by Davis Moore. Brendt Citta led off the home half of the fifth with a leadoff double and came home on a subsequent single from Fernando Villegas, with Villegas advancing all the way to third because of a fielding error from center fielder Ricardo Mendez. He scored one pitch later on an RBI groundout to give West Virginia a 6-1 lead. 
West Virginia pushed across another run in the sixth inning before the Doubledays scored their second and final run of the game in the sixth. Peroni - finishing the night 2-for-2 with a walk - led off the inning with a single and scored on a two-out hit from Pena. A rain delay halted the contest in the bottom of the 8th inning, and the game was ultimately called due to the elements shortly after.
The Doubledays will be back in action Wednesday at 7PM against the Crosscutters at Falcon Park. Listen in on the action on fingerlakes1.com, milb.streamguys1.com, or the TuneIn app.