(Story and photo courtesy Augusta GreenJackets)
HICKORY, N.C – Back on the field for the first time in four days, the Augusta GreenJackets (20-15, 55-46) scored five times in the final two innings, but gave up two in the bottom of the ninth and one in the tenth to hand victory to the first-place Hickory Crawdads (27-9, 61-39) by a final of 8-7 Tuesday night.
A heart-wrenching loss came to pass in extra innings, but only after Augusta orchestrated a brilliant rally in the final two innings of regulation to turn a 5-2 deficit into a 7-5 lead. The Jackets scored three runs in the eighth without a hit, using a series of free passes, a wild pitch, and a throwing error to tie the game against Geury Rodriguez. One inning later, Juan Mateo obliterated a solo homer for the late lead, before Cooper McMurray’s RBI double gave the Jackets some breathing room.
That extra insurance would not be enough, as the vaunted Hickory offense came back as they have done so frequently this year. After snagging the early lead with a four-run fourth thanks to three walks and a softly struck bases-clearing double, the Crawdads were one out from defeat before Carter Lovasz caved. With a man at first and two outs, Lovasz left a cutter in the heart of the plate that Pablo Guerrero struck just well enough to sneak over the right field wall for a game-tying home run.
The tenth inning was a frustrating one for the GreenJackets, as the bottom third in the order each struck out swinging against Ben DeTaeye. Despite bringing in speedster Matt Scannell to pinch run at second as the automatic runner, Augusta was unable to put anything in play to move him over, and paid the price. All told, the GreenJackets struck out 17 times in 10 innings, their second highest total in a game this year.
In the bottom half of the 10th, victory looked all but certain for the Crawdads after young DH Noah Franklin laid down a perfect bunt to put men at the corners with nobody out. But Franklin committed a nearly inexcusable baserunning gaffe, trying to take second after a shallow popout, and was gunned down on the relay throw for the second out of the inning. Even after the gift, however, Augusta could not prevail, as Daniel Flames rolled a soft grounder against the shift to score the winning run and secure a huge series-opening victory.
Having been walked off for the first time this year, the GreenJackets must now find a way to bounce back against a team that has the best second half winning percentage in Single-A and the second best second half winning percentage in all of Minor League Baseball. Gensi Angeles will start Wednesday’s game looking for redemption after a disastrous debut last week, as he matches up with Crawdads ace Alejandro Chiquillo.
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