Game #15 - Road Game #7 - Thursday – 7:00
Savannah Sand Gnats (9-5, t-1st, Southern) vs. Augusta GreenJackets (9-5, t-1st, Southern)
RHP Taylor Whitenton (0-1, 2.45) vs. RHP BJ Salsbury (2-0, 1.38)
Lake Olmstead Stadium - Augusta, GA
Radio: WBMQ News/Talk 630, http://www.sandgnats.com/
Tonight: The Gnats play the third game of a four-game series at Augusta and game seven of an eight-game roadtrip. Savannah enters with a three game winning streak, equaling the team’s best all year and has won six of its last seven games.
Last Night: The Gnats scored six times in the top of the ninth inning to beat Augusta 9-4 to pull into a tie for first place with the GreenJackets.
Now Pitching: Taylor Whitenton will make his second start for Savannah. Whitenton and Darin Gorski are “piggy-backing,” sharing the fifth spot in the Gnats rotation. Whitenton started the first time through the rotaion, with Gorski relieving, and then the second time through, Whitenton relieved Gorski. In his first start, against Augusta, Whitenton gave up two runs on four this and three walks in 3.1 innings. He fired four shutout innings in relief of Gorski in his last appearance in a 9-2 Gnats win in Rome. Whitenton threw in four games in the Gulf Coast League last year. The Mets drafted him in the 39th round of the 2009 draft out of Darton College in Albany, GA. Whitenton had committed to play for Kennesaw State.
Roster Update: Prior to Wednesday’s game, the Mets assigned infielder Rylan Sandoval to extended spring training to activate Jefry Marte from the Gnats disabled list.
Lets Go Streaking! Four different Gnats ride personal-best hit streaks into tonight’s game led by Cesar Puello, who has a Gnats’ season best seven-game hit streak going. In his last seven games, Puello is hitting .307 (8 H/26 AB) with three doubles, two walks, six runs scored, three RBI and seven strikeouts. Wilmer Flores has hit in six straight games, Pedro Zapata and Rafael Fernandez in five straight and Kai Gronauer in four straight. In his last five games, Flores is hitting .416 (10 H/24 AB) with two doubles, a home run, five runs scored and nine RBI with a .625 slugging percentage.
Top of the Charts: Gnats pitching leads the SAL with a 2.09 ERA (29 ER/125 IP). Savannah has the best WHIP (1.04), has allowed the fewest hits (96) in the SAL and is tied for the fewest walks (34) with West Virginia and Greenville.
Scoring is Good: In their current three game winning streak, the Gnats have scored 24 runs, their best offensive output over any three games this season. In the Gnats previous three game-winning streak, the team scored 18 runs. Savannah has batted around in each of the last two nights. In their nine wins, the Gnats have scored 59 runs, an average of 6.6 runs per game. In their five losses, the Gnats have scored six total runs, an average of 1.2 runs per game and been shut out twice. Savannah is 9-0 when scoring four or more runs and 0-5 when scoring three runs or fewer.
Flo & Gro: Kai Gronauer is seventh in the SAL in average (.378), second in OBP (.477) and seventh in slugging percentage (.568). 18-year old SS Wilmer Flores is eighth in the league with a .370 (20 H/54 AB) average.
Early Jumps: Savannah is 8-1 when scoring first in a game. The Gnats have outscored their opponents by a score of 20-8 in the first two innings of games in 2010.
Not Lagging: Juan Lagares leads the Gnats with seven extra-base hits and is slugging .500. He’s never slugged better than .337 in his previous three attempts in the SAL.
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