Rome 7, Savannah 6

The Rome Braves defeated the Savannah Sand Gnats 7-6 Monday morning before 4,877 fans at State Mutual Stadium. The Braves were able to rally from six runs down for the win.



Savannah took a big early lead scoring five runs in the first inning highlighted by RBI singles from Cory Vaughn and Luis Nieves. A fielding error allowed another run to cross the plate making it a 3-0 game. With bases loaded, Sam Honeck walked to score the fourth run. An RBI groundout plated the fifth run of the inning. The Sand Gnats added another run in the second on a solo homerun by Cory Vaughn making the score 6-0.



Rome made it a 6-1 game in the bottom of the second on a Christian Bethancourt single to score Robert Hefflinger. The Braves tied the game in the third scoring five runs. Edward Salcedo singled to score Matt Lipka and Hefflinger cracked a ground rule double allowing Elmer Reyes to score. Bethancourt then hit a sacrifice fly making the score 6-3. The fourth run of the inning scored on a wild pitch and with two ours Chris Garcia launched a solo homerun tying the game 6-6.



The Braves broke the tie in the seventh inning when Garcia struck again, this time with an RBI single allowing Edward Salcedo to cross the plate. The Braves bullpen held the Sand Gnats for the rest of the game.



Braves pitcher Danilo Alvarez (3-1) gets the win, while Luis Rojas (1-3) gets the loss. Ryan Weber gets his second save of the year for Rome.