Rome 4, Savannah 3

The Rome Braves defeated the Savannah Sand Gnats 4-3 Monday night at State Mutual Stadium before a crowd of 1,638. Game two of the series will be tomorrow at 7pm.



After back to back singles to start the top of the first, the Sand Gnats took a 1-0 lead when catcher Ryan Delgado’s throw sailed into center field on a double steal attempt. One batter later Alberto Cordero brought home another run with an RBI single to center making it a 2-0 game early.

Matt Lipka and Tommy La Stella led off the bottom of the first in similar fashion for the Braves with back to back singles of their own. After moving runners to second and third on a groundout by Ryan Delgado the Braves cut the lead to 2-1 when Lipka came home on a wild pitch during an intentional walk of Chris Garcia. One batter later La Stella tied the game 2-2 when Sand Gnat third baseman Joe Bonfe booted a groundball hit by Edward Salcedo.



The Braves broke the tie in the bottom of the fourth on a Salcedo RBI single. After Chris Garcia singled to leadoff the inning he moved to second on a wild pitch and scored when Salcedo chopped a single through the infield. David Rohm followed with another single but he and Salcedo advanced to second and third when Rohm’s single skipped under right fielder Rafael Fernandez’s glove. Two batters later Tony Mueller laid down a perfectly executed bunt that scored Salcedo from third and gave the Braves a 4-2 lead.



Savannah managed one more run in the top of the fifth but that would be all they could get on the night. Dan Jurik bounced back after a two run first inning and gave the Braves six solid innings and lefthander Carlos Perez came in relief and shut the door for the final three innings to send Rome home as 4-3 winners.



Dan Jurik (2-1) earns the win for Rome and Erik Goeddel (2-4) takes the loss for Savannah.

From team press release