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5/19/11

Savannah Sand Gants Pre-Game Notes

Savannah Sand Gnats (19-20, 1st, Southern) at Charleston RiverDogs (18-22, 5th, Southern)



Game #40 - Road Game #23 - Thursday – 7:05


RHP Gonzalez Germen (3-1, 3.41) vs. RHP Shane Greene (2-3, 5.54)


Joseph P. Riley Park, Charleston, SC


Radio: News/Talk 630 and http://www.sandgnats.com/



Tonight: The first place Gnats, SAL affiliate of the New York Mets, finish their seven-game road trip and a three game series in Charleston against the RiverDogs, SAL affiliate of the New York Yankees. The Gnats are 4-2 on their current seven-game road trip and return home for a four-game home stand against the Greenville Drive on Friday.



Last Night: 3B Aderlin Rodriguez and RF Rafael Fernandez each drilled a pair of home runs to lead the Gnats to an 8-4 win over the Charleston RiverDogs. Rodriguez and Fernandez combined to drive home seven of the Gnats’ eight runs. … The four home runs the Gnats hit in a game were a new 2011 season-high



Now Pitching: RHP Gonzalez Germen is scheduled to make his eighth appearance and his sixth start tonight. Since giving up five runs in his first outing of the year on April 12, Germen has not allowed more than two runs in any of his subsequent six appearances. Since returning to the rotation full-time, he is 2-0 with a 1.89 ERA (4 ER/19 IP) and 17 strikeouts against just four walks in his last three starts. Germen spent most of the 2010 season with Kingsport in the Appalachian League where he was 2-5 with a 3.69 ERA in 61 innings over 10 starts. He struck out 54 and walked 11 for a healthy K/BB ratio of 4.9. He made two starts with Savannah to finish out the year. On August 27th, in his Savannah debut, in game two of a double-header, he took a no-hitter into the sixth inning and a shutout into the seventh. The Gnats are 2-3 when Germen starts and have supported him with 5.00 runs per game (25 runs/5 starts).



First Place Gnats: Last night’s Gnats’ win, combined with a pair of Asheville losses to Rome in a doubleheader put Savannah alone in first place for the first time this year. The Gnats lead three teams, the Asheville Tourists, the Greenville Drive and the Lexington Legends, by one half game for first place in the Southern Division. Six teams are playing .500 or better baseball in the Northern Division while no Southern Division has reached the .500 mark.



Runs! On the first six games of their seven game road trip, the Gnats have scored 43 runs, an average of 7.17 runs per game, over three runs per game above their season average of 3.92.



Cory’s Cuts: Cory Vaughn leads the South Atlantic League, and is fifth in all of minor league baseball, with a .485 on-base percentage. Vaughn had his eight-game hitting streak snapped last night, but he has reached base in 20 straight games, the third-longest active streak in the SAL behind Bryce Massanari (35 games) and Bryce Harper (25 games).

Robbie Rollin’: Robbie Shields owns a eight-game hitting streak over which time he is 15-for-34 (.441) with five doubles, two triples, six runs scored and seven RBI. Shields is hitting .333/.400/.561 (AVG/OBP/SLG) with 10 extra-base hits and seven walks and eight strikeouts in 15 games in May. He is tied for the SAL lead with four triples.


Aderlin’s Road Attack: With his two home runs last night, Aderlin Rodriguez pulled himself into a five-way tie for second in the SAL with nine home runs. He has hit eight of his nine home runs on the road where he has a .517 slugging percentage. He is slugging .308 at home at Historic Grayson Stadium.

Pitching to the Top of the Charts: The Gnats lead the SAL in ERA (3.46) and are now second in WHIP (1.28).



Versus Charleston: The Gnats are 2-1 against Charleston in 2011. The two teams are scheduled for eight games in Savannah and seven in Charleston. The Gnats finished 9-4 against Charleston in 2010, 3-1 at home and 6-3 on the road.
 
from team press release

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