Syracuse sweeps doubleheader – Scranton Times-Tribune

The Syracuse Mets swept the Scranton/Wilkes-Barre RailRiders, 9-4 and 7-4, in a doubleheader Saturday at NBT Bank Stadium.

In Game 1, Syracuse’s Ryan Clifford hit a three-run home run in the bottom of the first.

The RailRiders battled back in the third on Jonathan Ornelas’ RBI triple and Jasson Dominguez’s RBI groundout to cut the deficit to 3-2.

However, the Mets pulled away in the bottom half of the inning. Ronny Mauricio, Vidal Brujan and Onix Vega homered to give Syracuse an 8-2 lead.

Scranton/Wilkes-Barre’s Max Schuemann homered in the fourth, Syracuse’s Jackson Cluff scored on a Zach Messinger wild pitch in the fifth and Yanquiel Fernandez hit an RBI single in the sixth for the RailRiders.

In Game 2, the RailRiders once again found themselves in a three-run hole after Clifford homered in the second and hit an RBI double in the third and Mauricio added an RBI groundout in the third.

Spencer Jones homered in the fourth to cut the deficit to 3-1, but Trace Willhoite’s sacrifice fly in the fourth and Mauricio’s two-run double and Brujan’s sac-fly in the fifth gave Syracuse a 7-1 lead.

Paul DeJong hit a solo homer and Payton Henry hit a two-run homer in the seventh to cut the deficit to 7-4, but that’s as close as the RailRiders got.

The final game of the series is Sunday at 1:05 p.m. with Scranton/Wilkes-Barre’s Brendan Beck (1-1, 4.87 ERA) and Syracuse’s Jonah Tong (0-1, 7.04 ERA) the probable pitchers.