Savannah 7, Augusta 4

Augusta, GA - The Augusta GreenJackets offense has struggled as of late, but their eight hits on Saturday night were not enough in a 7-4 loss to the Savannah Sand Gnats in front of 5,931 fans - a single-game franchise attendance record and the second time the GreenJackets have set that record this season.

Savannah struck first for the third straight night, getting a run in the second inning on Aderlin Rodriguez's sacrifice fly. The GreenJackets answered quickly, getting two runs in the bottom of the inning to take their own 2-1 lead. After back-to-back hits opened the inning, a wild pitch scored Mark Minicozzi to tie the game while Joe Staley's groundball brought home Brett Krill to hand the GreenJackets the lead.

The Sand Gnats put three runs on the board in the top of the third though and never trailed the rest of the way. Charley Thurber's two-run double provided the tying and go-ahead runs while Brandon Brown singled home another to put the Gnats ahead by two. The GreenJackets pulled to within one in the fifth inning, picking up three straight two-out hits. Alberto Robles singled home a run to make it 4-3 but Jesus Galindo was thrown out at the plate in an attempt to tie the game on the Robles hit and the GreenJackets remained down a run.

The teams traded runs in the eighth with Gilbert Gomez giving the Sand Gnats a brief two-run lead with an RBI single. Augusta answered on Minicozzi's sacrifice fly to the warning track in right, scoring Galindo to pull the GreenJackets to within a run. Savannah gained some breathing room in the ninth, putting a couple runs on the board to extend a one-run lead. Dustin Lawley tripled home a run and Travis Taijeron doubled in another to stretch Savannah's advantage to 7-4.

In the ninth, Sand Gnats closer TJ Chism pitched a 1-2-3 inning to pick up his seventh save of the year and prevent the GreenJackets from winning their third straight.

For the second time in as many starts, Rafael Montero (4-2) picked up the win against the GreenJackets. Montero scattered three runs and seven hits in a season-long seven innings, walking none and striking out four. Kevin Couture (2-3) was touched up for four runs on nine hits in his third start of the year, lasting just four innings.

The GreenJackets will enter a series finale with the Sand Gnats for the second time in as many Sundays needing a win to earn a series win over Savannah while the Gnats need a win to salvage the split. Edwin Escobar (2-3, 2.86) takes the ball for the GreenJackets and will face Savannah's Jacob DeGrom (1-0, 0.98). First pitch comes at 2:05 p.m. with radio pregame coverage beginning at 1:50 p.m. on ESPN Radio 1340 AM and online at www.greenjacketsbaseball.com. Single-game tickets for any GreenJackets home game are currently available by calling the GreenJackets front office at 706-922-WINS and online at www.greenjacketsbaseball.com.

from team press release