After getting rained out in two consecutive days, the Doubledays were finally able to hit the field for a doubleheader against the Crosscutters. Auburn finished the night with mixed results, taking Game 1, 3-1, with the help of timely hitting but dropping Game 2 by a score of 7-1.
Rhett Wiseman let his bat do the talking in both games of the doubleheader. The rehabbing outfielder from Double-A Harrisburg led off both contests with home runs, depositing his first in right field and his second in deep center. But while his first home run was a sign for good things to come for the Doubledays, his second was the extent of what Auburn would do offensively on the night.
While Wiseman led Game 1 with a homer, the Doubledays bats were silent all the way up until the seventh inning. Williamsport starter Jose Conopoima gave Auburn multiple chances to extend their lead after putting runners on base during every one of his four innings on the mound. Each runner was stranded, however, which allowed the Crosscutters to remain in striking distance for most of the game.
Tyler Dyson, on the other hand, was lights out in his second outing of the season. The Washington Nationals’ fifth round pick of the 2019 MLB Draft didn’t allow a hit through three innings, with his only base runner coming from a leadoff walk in the first inning. Evan Lee took over in the fourth inning and continued his solid start to the season. The lefty out of Arkansas struck out four batters in his two innings of work, but gave up a solo home run in the fifth inning which tied the game at 1-1.
But the Doubledays broke the tie in the seventh inning, keeping the shortened game from going into extras with back-to-back RBI singles by Jack Dunn and Jake Alu to regain the lead. Pearson McMahan shut the door on the Crusscutters in his second inning of work, giving the Doubledays their 3-1 victory to win Game 1.
Game 2 was not as kind to Auburn as the team was shut out after Wiseman’s second leadoff home run of the day. Crosscutters starter Hsin-Chieh Lin followed Wiseman’s home run with four innings of shutout baseball, and Rafael Carvajal following suit by finishing out the final three while allowing just one hit.
Williamsport tied the game in the third inning with a run off of Doubledays starter Niomar Gomez and then exploded for four runs in the following inning. Juan Aparicio singled in the Crosscutters’ runner from third, and a triple by Johan Rojas brought in two more. Jake Holmes brought in the final run of the inning to give the Crosscutters a 5-1 lead.
Gomez finished out the fourth inning and allowed two more runs before being replaced by Tyler Yankosky in the fifth. He had a solid bounceback outing after surrendering three runs in .2 innings his last time on the mound, throwing a scoreless inning. Fausto Segura took over the ninth, striking out three while walking one.
The Doubledays will be back in action Thursday at 7:05 PM for the series finale against Williamsport.
This content is brought to you by the FingerLakes1.com Team. Support our mission by visiting www.patreon.com/fl1 or learn how you send us your local content here.