5/2/14

Savannah 2 - Rome 1



The Savannah Sand Gnats won their fourth game in a row to improve to a season-high 10 games over .500 using more good starting pitching and some creative offense Friday night at Historic Grayson Stadium. With their 2-1 win, Savannah improved to 18-8.

On the mound, Miller Diaz held the Rome Braves (8-20) to one unearned run in 6.1 innings. He struck out six and did not walk a batter to improve to 2-0.

The Gnats scored the game’s first run in the bottom of the first inning.  SS Gavin Cecchini tripled down the left field to begin the inning and came home on a balk.

Savannah scored their second run without an RBI hit. With the bases loaded in the sixth, 3B Jeff McNeil was hit by a pitch to force home Colton Plaia to give the Gnats a 2-0 lead.

The Gnats had three bases loaded opportunities and scored one run in those chances. All told, the team left a runner at third base five times in the team’s eight at-bats and stranded 12 runners.

The Braves picked up an unearned run against Diaz in the seventh. He turned the game over to the bullpen with the tying run at third and the go-ahead run at second, but reliever Dawrin Frias struck out one and induced a groundout to end the threat and preserve the Gnats’ lead.

Robert Coles worked a 1-2-3 ninth with two strikeouts for his fourth save.

Cecchini was 3-for-4 with a triple and a walk to extend his hitting streak to a personal best five games. - team press release

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