Gnats 11, Drive 7

Robert Carson (2-2) turned in another solid road outing to pick up his second win while the offense exploded for 17 hits in Savannah’s 11-7 win over the Greenville Drive Wednesday afternoon.

The Sand Gnats, who never trailed in the contest, scored three in the first inning on RBI singles by Josh Satin, Sean Ratliff and Raul Reyes to open up a, 3-0, lead.

Greenville pulled within one in the second after plating a pair of runs but that is as close as they would come the rest of the way. Savannah (11-9) answered back with four in the third and chased Drive starter Yeiper Castillo (0-2) after 2.2 innings.

Things would get interesting in the late innings as Greenville got to Gnats reliever Wendy Rosa in the eighth for four runs. In the ninth, Greenville loaded the bases against Erik Turgeon before he walked in a run to bring the Drive within four. Jimmy Johnson came on and struck out David Mailman on three pitches to end the game for his first save.

Ratliff ended up a triple shy of the cycle and finished the game 4-for-5. He is the second Sand Gnat to record four hits in a game this season. Satin added three hits from the cleanup spot while Rafael Fernandez, Jefry Marte, Eric Campbell and Reyes all chipped in two hits.

Carson worked six innings and allowed two unearned runs. In two road starts this season, the Hattiesburg, Miss. native has worked 12 innings and given up two unearned runs. He also struck out a season-high seven batters.