Doubledays Comeback Falls Short against Black Bears
July 14, 2016 - New York-Penn League (NYPL)
Auburn Doubledays News Release
The Auburn Doubledays, Single-A Short Season affiliate of the Washington Nationals, lost to the West Virginia Black Bears, 5-3, on Thursday night from Monongalia County Ballpark in Morgantown, West Virginia. Auburn had the tying run on second base in the eighth inning with one out, but couldn't get that run home in the loss.
The Black Bears (12-15) scored all of their runs in the bottom of the fifth inning off of Doubledays right-hander Hayden Howard. Ty Moore led off the inning with a single. After a Chris Harvey fly out to center field, Tyler Leffler and Erik Forgione both singled to load the bases. Sandy Santos then worked a walk with the bases loaded to score Moore and give West Virginia a 1-0 lead. Clark Eagan followed with a base hit to center field. Leffler and Forgione both scored. Eagan advanced to second base after center fielder Blake Perkins tried to throw out Forgione at the plate. Doubledays catcher Tres Barrera tried to throw Eagan out at second base, but his throw wasn't in time and it allowed Santos to score on the play as well to extend the Black Bears lead to four, 4-0. Kevin Krause then singled to left field, scoring Eagan from second base and giving West Virginia a 5-0 advantage.
The Doubledays (14-13) responded in the top of the sixth inning off Black Bears starting pitcher James Marvel. Daniel Johnson led off the inning with a single. With Sheldon Neuse batting, Marvel tried to pick off Johnson at first base, but Marvel's throw was errant, which allowed Johnson to advance to second base. Neuse then walked to put runners on first and second base with no outs. Nick Banks laid down a sacrifice bunt back to the pitcher's mound that allowed Johnson to advance to third base and Neuse to move to second. With Tres Barrera up to bat, Marvel threw a wild pitch that scored Johnson and allowed Neuse to get to third base as Auburn cut West Virginia's lead to four, 5-1. Barrera then grounded out to first, but Neuse scored from third to cut the deficit to three, 5-2.
Auburn scored again in the eighth inning. With one out, Banks singled. Barrera followed with a single to put runners on first and second with one out. Ryan Ripken then hammered a ball to right field to score Banks and make the West Virginia lead two, 5-3. The Doubledays' comeback ended there though. Jake Noll flew out to right field for the second out of the inning, and on the play, Barrera tried to tag up and score from third base, but he was thrown out at home plate by Moore, the right fielder.
The Doubledays and Black Bears will play game two of their three-game series Friday night. Right-hander A.J. Bogucki will pitch for Auburn against West Virginia right-hander Danny Beddes. First pitch is set for 7:05 p.m.
New York-Penn League Stories from July 14, 2016
- Cyclones Lose Heartbreaker, 1-0 - Brooklyn Cyclones
- Spikes' Comeback Bid Falls Short in 7-4 Loss to Scrappers - State College Spikes
- Doubledays Comeback Falls Short against Black Bears - Auburn Doubledays
- Scrappers Win Third Straight Game - Mahoning Valley Scrappers
- On Their Heels - Hudson Valley Renegades
- Eagan Leads Black Bears to 5-3 Victory at Home - West Virginia Black Bears
- Williamsport 6, Lake Monsters 2 - Vermont Lake Monsters
- How Sweep It Is Cyclones Win Fourth Straight - Brooklyn Cyclones
- Dawson's Blast Leads 'Cats over Tigers - Tri-City ValleyCats
- Gutierrez Dominates in Tigers Loss - Norwich Sea Unicorns
The opinions expressed in this release are those of the organization issuing it, and do not necessarily reflect the thoughts or opinions of OurSports Central or its staff.
