Savannah improved to 19-20 with the victory, while Charleston dropped to 18-22 in defeat.
A night after Savannah and Charleston cracked three home runs each, the Sand Gnats belted another in the top of the first to take a 3-0 lead off RiverDogs starter Zach Nuding (4-3).
Robbie Shields doubled, and Cory Vaughn walked, to reach base for Fernandez. The left-handed swinging left-fielder parked Nuding’s first pitch fastball, driving his second homer of the year over the left-centerfield wall.
Savannah starter Chase Huchingson (1-2) was a late replacement for Erik Goeddel, and looked sharp in the bottom of the first, striking out a pair while retiring the side in order. Charleston forged a two-out rally, though, to move ahead 4-3 in the second.
J.R. Murphy and Gary Sanchez singled, and Kyle Roller drew a free pass, to fill the bags for Jose Mojica. Hitting in the number nine spot for the first time since May 2, the shortstop ripped a sharp groundball into left field to plate two and cut the RiverDogs deficit to one. Eduardo Sosa came to the dish next, and deflected a two-run single of his own off the second base bag, scoring Sanchez and Mojica to put Charleston in front.
Nuding could not preserve the advantage for long, however, as the Sand Gnats flexed their muscles again to take a 5-4 lead in the third.
The patient Vaughn coaxed his second walk of the night, and made the stroll around the bases, when Rodriguez launched a towering drive off the Palmetto trees beyond the left field fence. It was the club-leading eighth long ball of the year for Rodriguez.
Control continued to haunt Nuding in the top of the fifth. The hulking, 6-4 Texan issued three straight one-out walks and had to watch from the bench, as Blake Forsythe produced a sacrifice fly for a 6-4 Sand Gnats lead.
Nuding was unable to generate momentum from the six shutout innings he authored in his prior showing. The right-hander yielded a season-high six earned runs on four hits and six walks, managing to fan three along the way.
Huchingson struck out a career-high eight men over his 5.0 frames of work, allowing the four runs (three earned) on five hits and two walks.
RiverDogs reliever Nathan Forer kept the Sand Gnats off the scoreboard in the sixth, but Savannah swung for the fences yet again in the seventh to push the lead to 8-4.
Rodriguez pounded his second blast of the night to lead off the inning, and Fernandez followed suit with a missile to right-centerfield on the next to record his first multi-homer game of the campaign.
Huchingson, scheduled starter Goeddel, and lefty Josh Edgin shut down the potent Charleston offense after the four-run second inning outburst. The RiverDogs racked up only three base hits from innings three through nine, and failed to put a man on base after the sixth.
info from Charlesn press release
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