Only eight days left in the minor league season, other than in Auburn (10 days) and Pulaski (3 days). PUlaski were eliminated from playoff contention over the weekend leaving Auburn, who are in a three way tie for first place, as the only second half hope for the affiliates. Dunedin and Lansing earned playoff spots in the first half. Four wins against one loss for the affiliates on Sunday. Good pitching led Syracuse to victory while New Hampshire, Auburn and Pulaski wielded the lumber.
Good pitching is the key to winning. Josh Banks and Dustin McGowan combined on a four hitter to get the win and the save respectively. Banks gave up all four hits in 6.1 innings. McGowan allowed one walk and no hits in 2.2 innings, his second straight dominating outing. Ottawa didn't have a hit after the fifth inning. The Chiefs took the lead in the second inning on a lead-off double by Russ Adams, one of two doubles for Adams in the game, and a single from Sergio Santos. Mike Mahoney singled to lead off the fifth and later scored on a ground out. Adams earned a promotion to the Jays after the game.
New Hampshire scored all their runs on home runs, they had four in the game. Brad Hassey led things off with a two run shot in the third; Ryan Patterson added a solo shot in the fifth; Chip Cannon blasted a two run shot in the seventh; followed by another seventh inning two run shot from Tim Olson. Mike MacDonald pitched seven innings allowing all three runs but only one was earned.
Dunedin - Scheduled day off
Good pitching wins games, bad pitching loses games. Adrian Martin, Josh Sowers and Ted Serro each contributed to the ten runs allowed. Yuber Rodriguez was the only hitter with a multi-hit game, he was 3-4 and is now hitting .223.
Auburn started the day one game behind Mahoning Valley for the lead in the Pinckney division, with State College in the mix too. With the win Auburn moved into a three way tie for the division lead. Wilfreddy Aguirre pitched five strong scoreless innings and was in line for the win when Auburn scored three in the sixth Inning. But Zach Dials and Seth Overbey allowed Mahoning Valley to tie with one in the sixth and two in the seventh. In the eighth Shawn Scobee doubled with the bases loaded to score three runs and give Auburn the lead. Auburn added five more in the ninth with a three run home run by Luke Hopkins the coup-de-grace.
Pulaski dominated this game behind a quartet of pitchers, none of whom pitched more than three innings. Among the hitting stars were Chris Emanuele who went 3-5 with a homer to push his batting average to .331; Baron Frost who went 2-4 for his third consecutive multi-hit game; Jon Jaspe who was 3-5; and Victor Santana who was 2-3.
Stars
3 Chris Emanuele
2 Shawn Scobee
1 Josh Banks
Standings
Syracuse are 61-75, and are in sixth and last place, 18.5 games behind Scranton
New Hampshire are 62-72, and are in fifth place, 12 games behind Trenton
Dunedin are 27-34, and are in sixth and last place, ten and a half games behind Fort Myers
Lansing are 28-34, and are in fifth place, 13 games behind West Michigan
Auburn are 33-30 and are in a three way tie for first place
Pulaski are 34-31 and are in second place, five games behind Danville