Savannah 5, Augusta 1

The Gnats (7-3) followed up their 19-hit performance with another 13 on Sunday to help them knock off the GreenJackets, 5-1. Eric Beaulac (1-0) worked five scoreless innings and allowed just two hits while striking out six for his first win of the campaign. Kyle Allen threw the final four innings for his first save of 2009.

With the win, Savannah is alone atop the standings in the South Atlantic League entering play tomorrow. It is the first time since before 2004 that the Sand Gnats have started a season with a record of .500 or better. They were 5-5 after 10 games to start the ’04 season.

The first run for the Sand Gnats fittingly came with two outs in the third inning when Sean Ratliff singled in Jefry Marte to make it, 1-0. Every run in the first two games of the series scored by Savannah came with two outs.

In the fourth, Kai Gronauer and Rafael Fernandez hit back-to-back home runs to widen the lead to 3-0. It was the first back-to-back home runs since Greg Veloz and Michael Parker went back-to-back as part of a five home run first inning against Columbus on June 3, 2008 at Golden Park.

Wilmer Flores was 3-for-4 with a run scored for the Sand Gnats while Marte and Fernandez each went 2-for-4. The 17-year-old Flores is hitting .359 through his first 10 games as a Sand Gnat.