Minor League Playoff Update: September 8

Wednesday, September 08 2004 @ 11:17 AM EDT

Contributed by: Ryan01

Charleston and New Hampshire had the day off, Frances made Dunedin wait another day and the Doubledays made another early exit.

New Hampshire vs. Binghamton -Game 1 starts tonight

Gustavo Chacin takes on Binghamton at home tonight for a 6:05 start. Brandon League will start game 2, Chris Baker goes in round 3. Frankie Rosario will start game 4 if necessary. Don't miss Craig Liadis' playoff preview in the Union Leader.

Dunedin vs. Tampa - Game 1 postponed

Hurricane Frances held the Florida State League idle for another day. Ismael Ramirez will get the start tonight if the game goes ahead. Neither team has seen action since last Thursday.

Charleston vs. Hickory - Game 1 starts tonight

If the weather holds out in Hickory, "Nasty" Mastny should get the start tonight. Jeff Rider has the playoff preview at the Charleston Gazette.

Mahoning Valley 7, Auburn 3 - Auburn loses series 2-0

Auburn's team on paper was very much a reversal from last year. Instead of great pitching, it was built on an explosive offense. In the end, however, it made no difference. They still had the best record in the league. They still stumbled at the end of the season. They were still eliminated in the very early stages of the playoffs .

Zach Jackson got the start even though he'd only had 4 starts as a pro and hadn't pitched particularly well in any of them. The decision proved costly for the Doubleday playoff hopes as he would struggle to go deep into the game. Jackson escaped the first inning unscathed despite 2 errors from his middle infielders. MV would open the scoring with 3 singles and a run scored off Jackson in the second. Auburn would respond with two runs in the 3rd inning highlighted by an RBI double by Ryan Klosterman.

Jackson breezed through the 3rd but would tire as MV scrapped their way to 4 more runs. Joey McLaughlin came on to retire the final two outs of the inning as well as pitched a shutout fifth inning. But the reliever gave up 2 unearned runs when asked to pitch the sixth. Brian Hall hit a solo homerun in the eigth but it was too little, too late as the Auburn Doubledays were again booted out of the playoffs much earlier than would be expected of the best team in the league.

Box score
Game story

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