Championship Series Game 4 - Friday - 7:05
RHP Erik Goeddel (3-5, 3.39/1-0, 0.00) vs. RHP Rett Varner (8-8, 5.29/0-0, 1.50)
Historic Grayson Stadium, Savannah, GA
Radio: News/Talk 630 and sandgnats.com
Tonight: With a 2-1 lead in the best-of-five South Atlantic League Championship Series, the Southern Division Champion Gnats can win their first SAL title since 1996 with a win tonight over the Northern Division Champion Greensboro Grasshoppers.
Last Night: 1B Joe Bonfe drove home CF Darrell Ceciliani with two outs in the bottom of the 11th inning to give the Gnats a 4-3 win over the Grasshoppers. Bonfe, who was 3-for-6 and Ceciliani, who was 3-4 with two walks, combined for six of the Gnats’ 11 hits last night and scored three of the team’s four runs. Including the regular season, the Gnats improved to 5-5 in extra innings and 4-2 at home. Savannah starter Taylor Whitenton struck out eight batters in 6.2 innings and did not walk a batter while allowing three runs. Three lefties out of the Savannah bullpen, Adam Kolarek, Hamilton Bennett and Chase Huchingson combined on 4.1 innings allowing three hits and a walk, while striking out two to secure the win.
Now Pitching: RHP Erik Goeddel will take the ball for Savannah. In Goeddel’s last outing last Saturday, he threw five shutout innings in game three against Augusta in a 3-1 win that clinched the Southern Division Championship and sent the Gnats to the SAL Championship Series. A strained right shoulder kept him out of action from May 23 through August 7. The Mets drafted Goeddel in the 24th round of the 2010 draft out of UCLA. Goeddel underwent Tommy John surgery during his senior year of high school at San Jose’s Bellarmine Prep in 2007 and missed most of the next two years at UCLA. In 2010 he was excellent for the Bruins out of the bullpen, striking out 59 and walking 23 while giving up 44 hits in 50 innings for rates of 10.6 K/9, 4.1 BB/9 and 7.9 H/9. Coming into the 2011 season, Goeddel was ranked as the Mets’ 17th best prospect by Baseball America, and the team’s 16th best by Baseball Prospectus. The Gnats are 8-6 when Goeddel starts in the regular season, and supported him with 4.6 runs per game.
Happy at Home: The Gnats are now a perfect 3-0 at home in the playoffs. Including the regular season and playoffs, the Gnats are 51-22 at home, thanks in part to a 24-6 record in one-run games. On the road, Savannah is 31-41 and 4-15 in one-run games. The ‘Hoppers are 46-26 at home and 35-35 on the road.
Good Spot: Every single SAL team with a 2-1 lead in the SAL Championship Series since 2001 has gone on to win the League Championship. Only once in the last ten years has the SAL Championship Series gone to the full five games.
DC: Darrell Ceciliani has hit safely in each of his last five playoff games going 11-for-20 (.550) in those five games. Overall, he is hitting .458 (11-for-24) in the playoffs, leading the Gnats. Through August 1, in his last 35 games between the regular season and post-season, he is hitting .331/.431/.434 with six doubles, four triples and 23 walks against 28 strikeouts in 136 AB.
Savannah Playoff History: The Gnats are looking for their first SAL Championship since 1996 when the team won the League in their first year with the Gnats moniker. The Savannah Cardinals won back-to-back SAL titles in 1993 and 1994. The Gnats are looking for their fourth SAL Championship in the League’s modern era, which dates to the 1980 season, and 10th overall. The Savannah franchise won its first SAL championship in 1906. Savannah also won SAL titles in 1913, 1914, 1938, 1940 and 1962. Between 1937 and 1962, the League had a Shaughnessy Playoff System, so the team with the best won-loss regular season was named the League Champion.
Mets SAL History: The Mets affiliate has not won a South Atlantic League Championship since the Capital City Bombers (Columbia, SC) captured the 1998 SAL title. Capital City also won the SAL title in 1991 and 1986.
Road Homers: The Gnats popped five home runs in the first two games of the SAL Championship Series in Greensboro. During the regular season, the Gnats hit 50 home runs in 69 games on the road as part of a .252/.323/.382 (AVG/OBP/SLG) line as compared to 18 homers at home where the team hit .248/.324/.344. Greensboro hit 89 homeruns at home as part of a .275/.344/.447 line that scored 5.4 runs per game in 71 games. On the road, the ‘Hoppers hit .262/.318/.405 with 53 homers in 68 games and scored 4.7 runs per game.
Vs. Greensboro: The Gnats are now 5-6 against Greensboro including the regular season and playoffs, 2-3 at home and 3-3 on the road. The ‘Hoppers were the only team to win a series from the Gnats at home at Historic Grayson Stadium in the second half of the regular season where the Gnats had a 6-1-2 record in their nine second half series. In their eight games head-to-head during the regular season, the Gnats outscored the Grasshoppers 42-31.
From team press release
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