Syracuse scored four in the first off Kei Igawa. wayne Lydon and Buck Coats started the inning with back to back triples and a sac fly made it 2-0. Later in the inning Curtis Thigpen doubled in two runs. Mike MacDonald pitched well, he did allow a three run home run to Eric Duncan in the fourth but all runs were unearned due to an error by Hector Luna. In the eighth inning, with two on, Scranton intentionally walked Russ Adams to face Thigpen who promptly hit a grand salami.
MacDonald lowered his AAA ERA to 2.48. In 61.2 AAA innings Mac Donald has allowed 57 hits and 16 walks and his numbers have been getting better as the season progresses. Mac Donald is a sinker, slider pitcher and it is tough for that kind of pitcher to succeed in the majors unless thir control is pinpoint.
Thigpen was 3-4 with 6 RBI's.
Only two hits for New Hampshire. Robert Ray had a shutout for four innings but allowed one run in the fifth and four in the sixth.
Dunedin scored three in the first, RBI doubles from Marcus Cabral and Matt Lane were the big blows. Cabral hit a solo home run in the third and Brian Dopirak hit a solo shot in the fifth. Meanwhile Brad Mills gave up two singles, one of the infield variety, through four innings. In the fifth Clearwater loaded the bases with no-one out on two singles and a walk. Mills got one out but then an error by Dopirak allowed two runs to score. The score was 4-2, and then 5-2 after Dopirak's homer in the fifth. Mills gave up a solo home run in the sixth but Dunedin got that back in the bottom of the sixth. Mills pitched six innings, allowed three runs, two earned. Mills had five K's against one walk. Dopirak doubled in a run in the seventh and Cabral later brought Dopirak home with a sac fly to make the score 8-3. Clearwater scored three runs off the bullpen but couldn't get enough.
Dopirak had three hits, Cabral, Luis Sanchez and Sean Shoffit had two each.
Only two hits for Lansing and none until the eighth inning. Luis Perez pitched well for seven innings but took the loss.
Four runs in the second inning were all Auburn needed and it started with a two out walk to Chris Hopkins. Chris Demons also walked, Bartolo Nicolas singled in a run, David Cooper doubled in two and Adam Amar doubled in number 4.
Nicolas, Cooper and Amar, along with Demons are leading the offense.
Demons, 24 years old, is hitting .281 but has a .431 OBP
Nicolas, 23 years old, is hitting .369.
Cooper, 21 years old, is hitting .338
Amar, 22 years old, is hitting .321
GCL Jays 5 GCL Braves 3 - 11 innings
The junior Jays are on a roll, this time with an extra inning win. The Jays trailed 3-2 heading to the ninth but Michael Crouse started things with a triple. After two strikeouts Antonio Jiminez singled in the tying run. In the 11th Markus Brisker walked, was sacrificed to second; with two outs Tyler Pastornicky walked and up came Antonio Jiminez who again singled in a run. Another scored on a wild pitch. Jiminez came into the game when Robby Diaz left after four at-bats, those two hits were Jiminez's first hits of the season. Jiminez is 18 years old.
Corey Bachman and John Anderson combined to pitch the last five innings with no baserunners.
3 star selection
3rd star - Mike MacDonald
2nd star - Antonio Jiminez
1st star - Curtis Thigpen
