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Two and uh-oh

Doubleheader sweep drops Mahoning Valley into first-place tie

Tribune Chronicle / Marc Weems Mahoning Valley manager Jim Pankovits, left, walks away from home plate umpire Jordan Sandberg after an argument Wednesday. The Scrappers lost both games of a doubleheader to Auburn, and the Doubledays are now tied for the division lead with Mahoning Valley.

NILES — The Mahoning Valley Scrappers lost both game of a doubleheader to the Auburn Doubledays, 7-6 and 6-3 respectively. Both games were seven-inning games of New York-Penn League play.

With the two losses, Auburn and Mahoning Valley are now tied for the Pinckney Division lead with 20 games left in the season.

In game one, Mahoning Valley (32-24) came out hot to start. In the first inning, Tyler Freeman scored on a Mitch Reeves single. After that, Henry Pujols doubled and Reeves scores for a 2-0 lead.

Auburn (32-24) responded quickly. A Jose Sanchez RBI single cut the deficit in half.

The top of the third inning is when things fell apart for the Scrappers. After Kyle Marinconz had an RBI single for a 3-2 lead, Nic Perkins drilled a grand slam for a 6-2 lead for the Doubledays. Connor Smith hit a home run in the third to cut the deficit to 6-3.

“I’ve felt pretty comfortable. It’s a matter of remembering baseball is all the same. I was in Lake County a few weeks ago,” Smith said. “I think Lake County really prepared me for this. It is about definitely staying to my approach and my daily habits and routine.”

Smith also said that having a great coaching staff and a great group of players around him has helped him tremendously thus far.

Mahoning Valley rallied in the seventh as Smith had an RBI single and then Reeves had a two-run double to cut it to 7-6. The scoring was too late as the game ended after that.

In the second game, the Scrappers struck first again. After a scoreless first inning, the Scrappers scored in the bottom of the second inning. First, it was Jason Rodriguez with an RBI single for a 1-0 lead and then it was Tre Gantt reaching on an infield single that scored Rodriguez for a 2-0 lead.

The Doubledays would respond with a four-run fourth. Cody Wilson, Pablo O’Connor, Adalberto Carrillo and Perkins all collected RBI’s in the inning as they led 4-2.

After scoring a run in the fourth inning to go up 5-2 for Auburn, the Scrappers got it back with a Jose Fermin solo home run to trail 5-3.

Auburn scored in the top of the seventh and the Scrappers couldn’t rally to salvage a split.

“With how many games we have in minor league baseball, we are all professionals and we think of tomorrow as a new day,” Smith said. “Just because we didn’t do as well as we hoped today, tomorrow is a whole new day and we can start a winning streak tomorrow.”

Now, Smith and the Scrappers have one last game today to try and get one game of the series.

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