(Story courtesy Augusta GreenJackets)
NORTH AUGUSTA – After rain delayed the start of Tuesday’s game by nearly four hours, the GreenJacket hitters emerged into the sunshine with a power surge, clubbing a season-high five home runs to run away from the Kannapolis Cannon Ballers by a final of 12-4.
A game that was scheduled to begin at 11:05 didn’t get going until 3:01, as persistent rain kept the tarp on at SRP Park deep into the afternoon. Once it was finally game time, it was Kannapolis that came out ready, snatching an early lead in the second against Logan Forsythe.
Forsythe’s command escaped him in his second frame, walking Matthew Boughton and Marcelo Alcala to start the inning. Arxy Hernandez followed with a single that scored Boughton, and after a hit by pitch loaded the bases, Abraham Nunez brought home a run on a line drive. That line drive sizzled off the ankle of Forsythe, and although an out was recorded, the starter was still lifted with the athletic training staff.
Reliever Carter Lovasz played fireman, stranding two men in the second before posting back-to-back zeroes in the third and fourth innings. While he kept Kannapolis at bay, though, the Augusta offense laid dormant, held off the board by starter Truman Pauley.
Augusta finally awoke in the bottom of the fifth, and unseated Pauley in one emphatic inning. Pauley allowed an infield single to Dalton McIntyre to start the frame, and then Cooper McMurray tied things on a big two-run blast that just cleared the 25-foot high wall in right. After Yamvier Carrero followed with a single, Alex Lodise cranked a two-run blast of his own to take the lead. The Jackets would tack on one more run in the frame, chasing Pauley and handing him his fourth straight loss to start the year.
The offensive onslaught didn’t stop there, with the Jackets adding four more the very next inning against Daniel Wright. Wright loaded the bases with one out on two singles and a walk, with a Lodise sac fly bringing in a run. A perfectly executed two-out double steal added one more, but it proved unnecessary as Luis Guanipa then crushed a home run four stories up off the apartment building behind left field for a 9-2 advantage.
Kannapolis did post a pair of runs late against Aiven Cabral, who earned his third straight win with four serviceable innings of relief. In total, the GreenJacket bullpen was tasked with recording twenty two outs, and did so with just two runs allowed in an all-around impressive day.
Augusta’s final big inning came in the eighth, as Lodise continued his career day with another two-run home run, this time to the opposite field. Lodise finished the afternoon with two homers and five RBIs, both career highs. Nick Montgomery added a two-out homer of his own, and the Ballers went down quietly in the ninth as Augusta won its fourth straight series opener.
The Jackets now sit at 13-9 on the year, including 6-1 in seven home games thus far. Kannapolis falls to a league-low 6-16, and 2-5 on the road. Augusta hopes for better weather tomorrow, as Derek Vartanian attempts to pick up his first professional win, as does Kannapolis starter Blaine Wynk.
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