(Story courtesy Noah Adcock-Howeth, Augusta GreenJackets)
NORTH AUGUSTA — The Charleston RiverDogs held a lead from the third inning onward, but a huge ninth inning for the GreenJackets was capped by a walk-off two-run homer from Mason Guerra in a magical 6-5 win Saturday night.
Mason’s magnificent night got going early, as his fabulous month of May continued with a solo homer off the apartment buildings behind left field to give Augusta an early 1-0 lead against Jose Urbina. The lead was short-lived; however, as Urbina finished the inning strong and the Dogs got the bats going immediately after.
Reigning Carolina League Pitcher of the Week Rayven Antonio was nearly flawless last Saturday, but after retiring his first seven opponents, Antonio was thrown off his axis by Woo Shin, who cracked his second homer in as many nights to tie the game. After a two-out walk extended the inning, Brailer Guerrero obliterated a long two-run shot towards the SRP Park Kids Zone to give Charleston their first multi-run lead since early Tuesday night.
The GreenJackets got one run back on an RBI double from John Gil in the bottom of the third, but a chance to tie was snuffed out when Gil was picked off between 2nd and 3rd base. From there, Urbina would retire 10 of his next 11 hitters to fire his second consecutive quality start.
Angel Mateo worked an RBI double out of a 12-pitch at bat in the top of the 4th, and that was the final tally against Rayven Antonio across 4.2 innings. Antonio was supplanted by Reibyn Corona, who checked in for his second appearance of the week and stranded a key insurance run on third in the fifth.
Corona was solid for a career-high 3.1 innings, with his only blemish coming against the bottom of the order in the seventh. Shin worked a walk, took second on a wild pitch, and came around to score on an RBI single from Jose Perez. The RBI made it a 5-2 game, and two perfect innings from reliever Kaleb Corbett kept the deficit the same entering the bottom of the ninth.
Charleston entrusted the ninth to Andy Rodriguez, who had worked a scoreless inning in a low-stakes situation Thursday night. Rodriguez was immediately challenged, as Gil and Owen Carey both roped singles to put the tying run at the plate with nobody out. Isaiah Drake stepped up next, and rolled a sharp grounder towards first, but used his blistering speed to beat Shin to the bag for an RBI single. Colby Jones came afterwards, and although he brought a second run home, it came at the cost of a double play that appeared to neutralize the rally.
With nobody on and two out, Rodriguez faced Douglas Glod needing one out for the win. Glod fell behind 0-2, but took three straight pitches outside the zone to work the count full before Rodriguez committed a costly pitch timer violation that granted Glod an automatic ball four. Glod’s walk set the stage for Guerra, and he crushed an 0-1 slider deep into the Augusta evening for his second homer of the night, this one a game winner in front of a sold out crowd.
Augusta’s magical first half continues, as the Jackets now sit five games above .500 at 24-19, and have won six straight games including all five against Charleston. Even more impressively, the GreenJackets now have four walk-off wins in 19 home games. The Jackets will take their never-say-die attitude into Sunday’s season finale, hoping Samuel Mejia can lead the team to its first sweep in the last three years at 6:05 p.m.
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