(Story courtesy Augusta GreenJackets)
SALEM, Va. – The Augusta GreenJackets (50-43, 15-12) put the tying and winning runs on with two outs in the ninth inning, but closer Wuilliams Rodriguez struck out Luis Guanipa swinging to quash the comeback and hand the Salem RidgeYaks (15-12, 40-52) an 8-5 win on Thursday evening at Carilion Clinic Field.
The Jackets took the lead twice in the early goings, posting much more offensive output compared to their first duel with Jason Gilman this month. Gilman held the Jackets scoreless through six innings in Augusta, but this time it was the Jackets’ ability to manufacture extra bases that led to success. The Jackets took the early lead in the third on a bases-loaded sacrifice fly, scoring despite no hits in the frame. In what would be a recurring theme, though, Salem responded immediately with two runs to take the lead.
Augusta chased Gilman in the top of the fifth, as Alex Lodise hit his 20th home run of the year, a two-run blast that swung the lead back to the GreenJackets. With his homer, Lodise becomes the first GreenJacket since Landon Stephens in 2021 to hit at least 20 home runs in a single season with Augusta.
Augusta’s joy was short-lived once again, as the RidgeYaks battered Logan Forsythe immediately upon entering the game to regain the lead. Forsythe allowed two hits, two walks, and a hit batter, and a two-out two-run single from D’Angelo Ortiz gave the Yaks a lead they never gave back.
Salem would continue to extend their lead in the late goings, posting three more runs against a beleaguered GreenJackets pen to pull further out of reach. Kleyver Salazar continued his assault on Augusta with a two-run homer off of Adiel Melendez in the 6th, and Justin Barry clubbed a double off of Melendez the next inning to grow the lead even more.
Augusta, to its credit, never gave in offensively, continuously chasing closer against Salem’s relievers. Conor Essenburg hit a solo shot to start the comeback in the top of the 7th, and Joe Olsavsky added an RBI single in the inning as well. Augusta then got down to its final out in the ninth, but Caden Merritt ambushed the first pitch of the night from Rodriguez for a two-run triple to pull within a run. Rodriguez then walked Hayden Friese before Guanipa’s strikeout stranded the tying run ninety feet shy of extending the game.
Augusta has now lost two in a row in Salem, and four of six games on the current road trip. The RidgeYaks have continued to hurt the GreenJacket bullpen, with 15 of Salem’s 21 runs this week coming with a reliever on the mound. On Friday, both teams have a starter making his Single-A debut, with Brody Fowler tossing for Augusta and Sabdiel Delzine for Salem.
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