(Story courtesy Augusta GreenJackets. File photo by Mike Adams)
NORTH AUGUSTA – The Augusta GreenJackets wrapped up their 24-game season series with the Charleston RiverDogs on Aug. 27 falling in a 1-0 nailbiter at SRP Park.
The RiverDogs (35-19, 62-58) held Augusta to just three hits, putting themselves in position to win the second half championship at home this coming week. The GreenJackets (23-30, 54-65) only allowed four hits all game, with stellar work from Lucas Braun, Cory Wall, and Elison Joseph, but could not punch a run through.
Lucas Braun got the start for Augusta the day after his 22nd birthday, and it was clear that nothing changed for him from his 21st year. He entered the game with a team-low ERA of 0.87, with 13 strikeouts to just one walk, and having only surrendered one earned run in his first three weeks with the team. Braun struck out two in the first while working around a pair of singles. Meanwhile, Augusta struggled against Ian Seymour, who held the GreenJackets to just one hit – a Pier-Olivier Boucher double – in the first two innings.
In the top of the third, the RiverDogs got a run on an RBI groundout from Cooper Kinney, notching two more singles prior to the run coming home. Braun would not allow a hit from that point on, though, sending down the next seven men he faced with just a walk in the fifth. Braun’s five innings of one-run, six strikeout action marked the longest appearance for him of his career. Indeed, the hits in the third would be the last base knocks for the RiverDogs all game.
Augusta did not give him much run support to play with, though. The GreenJackets mustered two hits against Seymour, whose day concluded after the fourth, before Cade Halemanu entered for three innings of hitless, scoreless relief. Cory Wall matched him by retiring all six men he faced, both teams going hitless from the bottom of the fourth through the eighth. Elison Joseph pitched a shutout eighth and ninth inning, sending the game to the final frame with Charleston still leading 1-0.
Ambioris Tavarez recorded Augusta’s third hit of the day (and first since the fourth inning) to get aboard as the leadoff man, but he was caught stealing and Augusta went quietly to Drew Sommers. The RiverDogs took the season series 13 games to 11, while Augusta was shut out for the third time in seven days.
Augusta wraps up the 2023 home slate this week.
The GreenJackets take on the Salem Red Sox from Tuesday until Sunday in the last home series of the season. To purchase tickets and learn more about the upcoming promotions, games, and more, visit https://www.milb.com/augusta/fans/gj-homestand-preview..
