The Augusta GreenJackets came back to defeat the Savannah Sand Gnats 5-4 in 10 innings Saturday night to force a winner take-all showdown for the first half championship in the SAL Southern division Sunday afternoon. The Gnats and GreenJackets are deadlocked with identical 41-28 records through 69 games. Savannah is looking for its first playoff berth since 1996 and its first half championship since winning the second half in 1994. Augusta RF Daniel Cook drove home 1B Luke Anders with the winning run in the bottom of the tenth, with a single to center field off Savannah reliever Erik Turgeon. Savannah starter Brandon Moore was tremendous, but could not finish a masterpiece. Moore retired the first 17 men in a row before issuing two walks in the sixth. With the Gnats up 4-0, he took a no-hitter into the eighth, which was broken up by GreenJackets’ 2B Ryan Cavan, who singled leading off the inning. After Moore struck out DH Tommy Joseph, Augusta C Hector Sanchez bounced a ball to second base that could have been an inning-ending double play had it not taken a bad hop right over the shoulder of Savannah 2B Michael Fisher. Instead, the GreenJackets had runners at the corners with one out. SS Ydwin Villegas followed with a single to left to score Cavan and make the score 4-1. After Moore struck out the next batter, LF Nick Liles tripled into the left field corner scoring two runs to draw the ‘Jackets within a run at 4-3, chasing Moore from the game. Liles scored the tying run when a Turgeon wild pitch in the dirt escaped from catcher Kai Gronauer. For the second time in the series, the Gnats built a lead before a single batter had been retired. In the top of the first, DH Pedro Zapata singled and Fisher followed with a home run to right to put Savannah in front 2-0. The Gnats added another run in the inning on a 3B Jefry Marte RBI single to score CF Juan Lagares. Savannah made it 4-0 with an unearned run in the top of the 7th on an Augusta throwing error.
No comments:
Post a Comment