‘CATS SPLIT
ValleyCats split double-header with Auburn Doubledays thanks to pitching
TROY » The ValleyCats’ Wednesday night match-up with the Auburn Doubledays was rained out, pushing it to Thursday and forcing the two teams to face off in a double header of two seven inning games on the hot July day.
Wouldn’t you know it, the start time to game one was pushed back due to more rain.
“It’s always tougher when their is a delay due to rain, but it’s still a good atmosphere for a game,” said Manager Jason Bell on the almost two hour delay to the start of game one on Thursday.
A late inning offensive resurgence for the Auburn Doubledays erased a late inning lead for the ValleyCats in game one and put the ‘Cats on the ropes in game one.
Cody Wilson’s double scored two runs for the Doubledays in the seventh and he eventually scored on a Jacob Rhinesmith single giving the Doubledays the 4-3 win in game one.
Juan Pablo Lopez had a strong outing as the ValleyCats starter. Going a mere three innings, Lopez allowed just one hit and added four strikeouts
to his stat line. Felipe Tejada came in to relieve Lopez of his duties in the fourth.
The offense came late in the third inning when Oscar Campos hit the first run in of the night on a shallow fly ball down the right field line that hugged the foul ball line and dropped in for a hit. Trey Dawson scored on the single.
That RBI, was Campos seventh of the season.
The Doubledays came back with a run of their own in following half inning off of a Nic Perkins double. Pablo O’Connor scored on the effort.
Luis Encarnacion hit a solo home run in the bottom of the fifth. His sky shot to left field was his fifth of the season, giving him sole possession of the number one slot on the active ValleyCats homerun list this season.
Encarnacion’s homerun gave the ‘Cats a 2-1 lead going into the sixth inning.
From their pitching and defense was the story.
In the bottom of the sixth, Dawson hit a sac fly to center field to score Enmanuel Valdez and give the ValleyCats insurance going into the seventh inning of game one of the doubleheader.
The seventh was the Doubeldays last chance to generate any sort of offense on the ValleyCats.
The Doubledays final frame of game one started with men on first and second, with no one out.
Wilson’s double in the inning scored both the runners on base, and an error put Wilson on third. Just like that, the ValleyCats two run lead was erased and the teams were tied at three runs apiece.
Rhinesmith’s single that scored Wilson was a hard line drive that cleared the heads of the infielders, who played up high on the grass in hopes of a ground ball to play to home.
The ValleyCats were unable to get any offense generated in the bottom half of the seventh, giving the Doubledays game one of the day’s doubleheader.
A 30 minute break in between the games was all the ValleyCats would need to walk away with the 3-2 win in game two over the Doubledays.
Game two, however, seemed to be showcasing a similar ending, with a late inning comeback being mounted by the Doubledays.
“Baseball is a funny game,” said Bell. “You can’t just run out the clock you actually have to get the out, which makes this game so beautiful.”
The ValleyCats hopes seem to brighten in the very first inning when they loaded the bases with two outs. Their fortunes seemed to be changing.
Unfortunately, the ‘Cats weren’t able to get anything across as Dawson flew out to right field.
The ValleyCats eventually figured out Doubledays’ game two starter Tim Cate with a three run third inning thanks to a Carlos Machado single to score Alex McKenna and Andy Pineda stole home on a passed ball by Doubleday catcher Nic Perkins
Dawson got retribution by singling in Machado for the third run of the inning.
“They kept setting me up high in the zone so I wanted to put it in the air hard,” said Dawson.
Following the ValleyCats offensive breakout, both teams settled into a defensive and pitching game.
“I thought they did great,” said Bell of his pitching staff. “They attacked the zone well and showed their secondary stuff like we know they can.”
This includes the ValleyCats’ pitching staff limiting the Doubledays to just one hit through the first six innings. It wasn’t until two outs into the sixth inning that the Doubledays got a hit, and things seemed to be looking eerily similar to how things ended in game one just a few hours earlier.
With the bases loaded and two outs on the board in the top of the seventh, Bell opted to go with the right handed Luis De Paula to go against the rehabbing AAA player Victor Robles.
“On our pitch counts we were out of pitches with [Cody] Deason,” said Bell. “De Paula has a really good slider, and he actually threw a really good slider to Robles.”
Robles singled to left field to bring in Jonathon Pryor and Nic Perkins.
The game was about to be tied once again.
Luckily, De Paula was able to strike out Carson Shaddy and end the game with the lead and earning himself the save.
“Baseball is a crazy game,” said Bell. “It was great to get that second win and that’s a pretty good ball club.”