Gnats Series Preview: July 14-18 vs. Greenville Drive

from press release:

Probable Starters


Day Time Savannah Sand Gnats (8-11/50-39) Greenville Drive (13-6/49-40) Radio


Wed 7:05 LHP Darin Gorski (3-4, 3.77) LHP Drake Britton (0-1, 3.26) News/Talk 630, sandgnats.com


Thu 7:05 RHP Taylor Whitenton (4-4, 3.66) RHP Ryan Pressly (3-5, 4.14) News/Talk 630, sandgnats.com


Fri 7:05 RHP John Church (5-0, 1.01) LHP Manuel Rivera (2-7, 3.43) News/Talk 630, sandgnats.com


Sat 6:05 RHP Armando Rodriguez (5-5, 3.03) RHP Pete Ruiz (5-6, 5.28) News/Talk 630, sandgnats.com


Sun 6:05 RHP Collin McHugh (3-6, 3.31) RHP Kendall Volz (5-3, 4.11) News/Talk 630, sandgnats.com



Players to Watch


Savannah


3B Jefry Marte - Has an eight-game hitting streak over which time he is batting .469 (15 H/32 AB) with 4 doubles, 2 HR and 10 RBI.


RHP John Church - has not allowed an earned run since May 30, a span of 22.2 innings...has earned wins in each of his last two starts.


1B Travis Ozga - hitting .373/.421/.549 (AVG/OBP/SLG) in 16 games ... drove in 11 runs in five games against Asheville.


SS Wilfredo Tovar - has reached base safely in 17 of his 19 games as a Gnat... hitting .354/.408/.446 with 5 walks & 5 strikeouts.



Greenville


OF Ronald Bermudez - hit .600 (9 H/15 AB) with a triple, three home runs and nine RBI in five games vs. Savannah.


LHP Drake Britton - ranked as the #15 prospect in the Red Sox organization entering the season by Baseball America.

Series Preview


The first half champion Savannah Sand Gnats return home to Historic Grayson Stadium to begin a five-game series against the Greenville Drive, the Boston Red Sox SAL affiliate. This will be the second and final series between the two division rivals this year after Greenville took three of five games from Savannah at Fluor Field, June 29-July 3.



If the standings hold, this could be a playoff preview. Greenville sits in first place in the SAL Southern Division at 13-9 in the second half. By winning the first half, the Gnats will play the second half winner to begin the SAL playoffs on September 8. Greenville is 7-2 on the road in the second half while the Gnats, who were 24-11 at home in the first half, are just 3-6 at home in the second half.

This is a match-up of strength against strength. Gnats’ pitching is still the best in the SAL with a 2.65 ERA, 0.61 better than second-place Lakewood. Savannah also leads the League in strikeouts with 764, 29 more than second-place Hickory. The Drive has the third-highest slugging percentage in the SAL (.389) and has drawn the fourth-most walks (286).