Gnats Game Notes: Saturday, May 8th @ Lakewood - 4:05 pm

From Press Release:

Savannah Sand Gnats (18-11, 1st, Southern) vs. Lakewood BlueClaws (16-13, 3rd, Northern)

Game #30 - Road Game #14 - Saturday – 4:05

LHP Jimmy Fuller (3-1, 1.87) vs. RHP Jonathan Pettibone (1-0, 3.45)

FirstEnergy Park – Lakewood, NJ



Radio: News/Talk 630 and sandgnats.com









Tonight: The first-place Gnats play game two of a four-game series with the Lakewood BlueClaws, the single-A affiliate of the Philadelphia Phillies. It is the sixth game of the Gnats’ eight-game road trip on which Savannah is now 2-3. The Gnats lead the Augusta GreenJackets and the Greenville Drive by two games for first place in the SAL Southern Division.



Last Night: Brandon Moore no-hit Lakewood while facing the minimum 12 batters through four innings, but DH Anthony Hewitt’s home run to left field leading off the fifth broke up Moore’s no-hit bid and gave the BlueClaws a 1-0 lead. Lakewood added two runs in the sixth and Savannah scored its only run in the eighth inning.



Now Pitching: Jimmy Fuller will make his sixth start as a Gnat. His scheduled start this week was pushed back due to tightness. In his last start, last Thursday, April 29, Fuller gave up a season-high three runs in five innings, his shortest of his five starts in 2010. He is currently seventh in the SAL with a 1.87 ERA, twelth in innings pitched (33.2) and tenth in WHIP (0.98). Fuller spent all of 2009 with the Brooklyn Cyclones where he was a NYP League All-Star in a season in which he was 3-6 with a 2.86 ERA in 12 games, 11 of which were starts. Fuller struck out 67 batters and walked fifteen for a sterling K/BB ratio of 4.67. Fuller was a DII All-American in 2008 at Southern Connecticut State University where he led DII in strikeouts with 145, averaging 13 whiffs per nine innings. He was 9-3 with a 1.39 ERA and put together a streak of 59 scoreless innings.

Savannah is 4-1 when Fuller starts and has supported him with 3.8 runs per game (19 R/5 starts), tied for the second lowest run support among Gnats starters.



Whiff – le Ball: Last night, Brandon Moore set a new season high for a Gnats pitcher, fanning 12 batters, beating the previous high of nine accomplished twice by Fuller and once by Taylor Whitenton. Moore and Church’s 13 strikeouts combined were the most by the Gnats in any game this year. On the other side, Matthew Way became the first opponent to strike out as many as 10 Gnats in a game.



Pitching and Defense: The Gnats lead the SAL with a 2.57 ERA, almost a third of a run better than Rome’s 2.84 ERA. The Gnats have allowed the fewest runs (91) overall, 24 fewer than Rome and Charleston, who are tied for second-fewest runs allowed. The Gnats have accomplished this by committing the fewest errors (27) in the SAL which has led to just 15 unearned runs, the fewest in the League.



More pitching: Last night, the Gnats tied a season-low for hits allowed, yielding just three hits for the second time this season after holding West Virginia to three hits in a 5-0 win on April ninth. Fuller started that night, and John Church, who threw last night, relieved him. It was the seventh time this year, the Gnats have walked just one batter and the fourth time the opposition has not issued a walk to a Gnats’ hitter.



That was Quick: The game time of 1:53 last night was the quickest Gnats game of the year. The last time Savannah played a nine inning game shorter than 1:53 was June 7, 2006 at Columbus when Savannah, then a Nationals affiliate, lost 3-0.



First Things First: The Gnats have had at least a share of first place since beating Augusta on April 21. The two game lead, which Savannah has held for four days, is tied for the Gnats’ largest.



Magic Four Ball: Savannah is 16-2 when scoring four or more runs and 2-9 when scoring three runs or fewer. When Gnats pitching allows fewer than four runs, the team is 14-5.