(Story and photo courtesy Augusta GreenJackets)
NORTH AUGUSTA – The Augusta Azaleas produced an offensive explosion, setting season highs in hits and runs in a 14-2 shellacking of the Fayetteville Woodpeckers in front of a packed house at SRP Park April 18.
The Azaleas scored first for the first time since Tuesday, claiming a lead early they never let go in a wire-to-wire win. Tate Southisene was hit by the first pitch of the game from Ryan Forcucci, and quickly stole second and took third on a wild pitch. Southisene trotted home on a sac fly from Luis Guanipa, and after a walk to Junio Garcia, Nick Montgomery poked a two-out RBI single to double the lead.
The two runs were all Zach Royse needed on the mound, as the starter was brilliant in his home debut. Royse worked a career-high 5.2 innings, refusing to allow a run and picking up his first professional win with a series of soft ground balls and five strikeouts.
Forcucci’s day ended after the first, but Augusta could not tack on against reliever Jesus Carrera until the bottom of the 5th despite a series of hard contact. Dallas Macias led off the fifth frame with a double into the left-center gap, and it was Southisene again coming through, crushing his second homer of the year out of the stadium entirely to double the lead.
Fayetteville’s offense finally showed life once Royse ended his night, and the Woodpeckers gave trouble to Lewis Sifontes in his first full inning of relief. Sifontes began the inning by allowing a single and walk, and a double steal put two men in scoring position with one out. Nehomar Ochoa hit a high chopper to short for a run-scoring single, and a late throw from Alex Lodise sailed high to allow a second run to cross. Sifontes would allow the tying run to reach with two outs, but put away top prospect Kevin Alvarez to strand two and stay in front.
The bats responded in a big way in the bottom half, getting the two runs back and then some as they ambushed new reliever Jhoster Baez batter after batter. The Azaleas manufactured a run with the bases loaded on another Guanipa sac fly, before two out singles from Montgomery and Caden Merritt gave Augusta its largest lead of the night. Cooper McMurray hit a screamer off of the second baseman’s glove to score two more, as the Azaleas sent ten men to the plate and scored six runs to pull away.
The bats weren’t done in the eighth either, as eight more men came to hit against Jose Varela and brought home four more runs. The big swing was an emphatic two-run blast from Montgomery, capping a three-hit, four-RBI night in the most emphatic of fashions.
The Azaleas’ win tonight guaranteed Augusta’s second consecutive series win, and its first victory in the alternate identity this weekend. The Azaleas will shine on field one last time Sunday afternoon, a 2:05 p.m matinee with Davis Polo making his first start of the year on the mound.
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