Charleston improved to 18-21 with the win, while Savannah dropped its second straight to regress to 18-20.
Ramon Flores and Kyle Roller added home runs of their own, as the RiverDogs racked up eight extra-base hits. Of Charleston’s last 66 base knocks spanning five-plus games, 37 have come for extra bases, 15 of which have cleared the outfield fence.
Charleston wasted no time in getting to Savannah starter Ryan Fraser, taking a 2-0 lead two batters into the bottom of the first. Eduardo Sosa sliced an opposite field double to the left-field corner in front of the red-hot Flores. Flores continued his tear, depositing a 1-0 fastball over the right-field wall for his fourth home run in as many nights, and sixth of the season.
Savannah used the long ball to get a run back off Charleston starter Mikey O’Brien in the top of the second. Sam Honeck forced a full count and rapped his third homer of the campaign over the left-field fence, making the score 2-1.
O’Brien was victimized by the deep ball again in the top of the fifth, as the Sand Gnats evened the ledger at 2-2. Darrell Ceciliani did the honors for Savannah this time, driving a 2-0 offering over the left field scoreboard for his third jack of the year.
Roller joined in on the home run fest in the bottom of the frame to stake the RiverDogs to a 3-2 advantage, clocking a 2-2 Fraser pitch just to the right of dead centerfield for his sixth blast of the season, all of which have come in the last 10 games.
Fraser was able to limit the damage over his 5.0 innings of work, considering that eleven Charleston batters reached base. The Memphis product allowed the three runs on seven hits and four walks, while striking out five.
O’Brien departed with one out in the sixth, continuing a consistent early season run that has seen the 2008 ninth round draft pick yield three earned runs or less in seven of his eight showings. The 5-10 Roanoke native permitted the two runs while scattering seven hits and a walk, fanning five in the process.
Danny Burawa (2-2) came on to relieve O’Brien and stranded two runners on base to preserve the one-run lead, striking out Honeck and inducing a fly out from Wilfredo Tovar.
Savannah’s Micahel Weldon (0-1) could not follow Burawa’s example in the bottom of the sixth, as Charleston regained a two-run advantage, 4-2. Anderson Feliz swatted a double to the gap in left-centerfield to spur the rally, and eventually came in to cross the plate on a wild pitch.
Yet another home run enabled the Sand Gnats to knot the score, 4-4, in the top half of the seventh. Robbie Shields singled past a diving Garrison Lassiter at shortstop to set the table for Cory Vaughn, and the son of the former Major League power threat Greg Vaughn displayed his own slugging prowess. Vaughn hammered a line-drive, two-run circuit clout off Burawa to square the ledger, notching his third homer of the season.
Kelvin De Leon unloaded on a Weldon fastball to give the RiverDogs a two-spot of their own in the bottom of the seventh. De Leon turned on an inside pitch, launching it well clear of the left field wall for a 6-4 Charleston lead.
Left-hander Hamilton Bennett could not stop the bleeding in the bottom of the eighth, as Charleston tallied three insurance runs to provide the final 9-4 margin.
Rob Segedin made it a 2-5 night, lacing a two-run triple to gap in right-centerfield to send Sosa and J.R. Murphy scurrying to the plate. Gary Sanchez poured it on two batters later, lining a two-out RBI single over a leaping Tovar at second base.
Kelvin Perez came on for Burawa and penned a 1-2-3 ninth to nail down the series opening win for the RiverDogs.
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