Gnats Game notes: Sunday, June 20 - @ Augusta - 2:05 pm

from press release:


Savannah Sand Gnats vs. Augusta GreenJackets



Game #70 - Road Game #35 - Sunday – 2:05


LHP Jimmy Fuller (5-2, 1.95) vs. RHP Jeremy Toole (2-2, 2.47)


Lake Olmstead Stadium, Augusta, GA - Radio: WBMQ News/Talk 630, http://www.sandgnats.com/



Today: The Gnats and GreenJackets will play a winner-take-all final game of the first half to decide the first half champion. The teams own identical 41-28 records. This will be Savannah’s third and final chance this half to clinch its first playoff berth since 1996.



Last Night: Brandon Moore took a perfect game into the sixth inning and a no-hitter into the eighth, but the GreenJackets scored four runs in the eighth against Moore and reliever Erik Turgeon, to tie the game at 4-4. In the tenth, Luke Anders walked, Chris Dominguez singled and Daniel Cook drove home Anders with the winning run. After the first inning last night in which the Gnats scored three runs, Savannah had just five hits, including two infield singles, over the game’s final nine innings.



Now Pitching: Jimmy Fuller will make his 14th start as a Gnat. He is sixth in the SAL with a 1.95 ERA and tied for second in strikeouts (77). The Gnats are 11-2 when Fuller starts, an .846 winning percentage, their best with any starting pitcher. Savannah has supported him with 4.85 runs per game, fourth among the seven pitchers who have started for Savannah. Fuller held Rome to one unearned run in 6.2 innings in his last start, fanning five and walking one. Fuller, one of six Gnats selected to the SAL Southern Division All-Star team, will be making back-to-back appearances as an All-Star after earning the honor a year ago with Brooklyn. With Brooklyn in 2009, he was 3-6 with a 2.86 ERA in 12 games, 11 of which were starts. He fanned 67 and issued 15 walks for a sterling K/BB ratio of 4.67. Fuller was a DII All-American in 2008 at Southern Connecticut State University where he led DII in strikeouts with 145, averaging 13 whiffs per nine innings. He also had a streak of 59 scoreless innings in 2008. The Mets drafted Fuller in the 28th round in 2008.



Defensive Data: The Gnats have the SAL’s best fielding percentage at .972, one one-thousandth ahead of Augusta (.971). Savannah’s 75 errors are the fewest by a SAL team and the Gnats’ eight passed balls are tied for second-fewest and the team’s 26 wild pitches are the fewest of any team in the league.



Half History: The Gnats have not won a half title in the SAL since winning the second half in 1994. The Savannah franchise won both halves of the Southern Division in 1993 and made the playoffs as a wild card in 1996.
 Vs. the GreenJackets: Savannah is 5-10 against Augusta this year, 4-7 in Augusta. The Gnats have outscored the ‘Jackets 58-53 in the teams’ 15 games this year.