(Story courtesy Augusta GreenJackets)
NORTH AUGUSTA – With two outs and the bases loaded in the bottom of the ninth, Junior Garcia served a single back up the middle to score Tate Southisene and give the GreenJackets their first walk-off win of the year, knocking off the Charleston RiverDogs 7-6 on May 9.
The single completed a comeback bid that erased a four-run deficit in the final four frames of the game, and ended Augusta’s three-game losing streak against the first place team in the Carolina League’s South Division.
The GreenJackets (16-16), playing as the CSRA River Donkeys for the final time this year, took an early lead that lasted little time, as Alex Lodise hit a two-run homer in the bottom of the first off of Alex Wallace. The home run gave Augusta the opening run of the game for the first time this week, as Charleston (20-12) has been a fast-starting team all series.
The RiverDogs wasted no time in retaliating, taking Zach Royse to task in the top of the second to snatch the lead from Augusta. Charleston sent nine men to the plate and scored six runs, highlighted by a two-run triple from Cooper Flemming, to give themselves a hearty advantage.
Royse and Wallace would each settle in quickly, and both sides traded zeroes until the bottom of the 6th. Once again, it was the long ball that befell Wallace, as he hung a curveball to Luis Guanipa, who crushed a solo shot off of the video board. After a double from Nick Montgomery chased Wallace, reliever Riley Stanford walked Yamvier Carrero before Cooper McMurray hit his second home run of the week, this one a three-run blast the other way to tie the game at six.
Both teams had chances down the stretch, with Charleston loading the bases with two outs in both the eighth and ninth innings. Both times, however, Adiel Melendez was able to twist out of danger, inducing a pair of grounders to end the respective innings.
Augusta collected the necessary baserunners in the bottom of the ninth thanks to three walks from Mason Nichols, one of which was intentional to Guanipa. Both Southisene and Montgomery won lengthy battles, and when Nichols’ pitch count ran too high, Trendan Parish was forced in and conceded the game winning swing to Garcia.
Augusta still has a chance to secure a series split if they can steal a win tomorrow, in a 2:05 p.m. Mother’s Day matinee at SRP Park. Reigning Carolina League Pitcher of the Week Trey Pooser will throw for Charleston after firing five hitless innings last time out, while Augusta will look for Davis Polo to bounce back against a tough RiverDogs lineup.
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