(Photo courtesy Augusta GreenJackets)
NORTH AUGUSTA – The Augusta GreenJackets moved a game over .500 with a dominant 8-2 win over the Kannapolis Cannon Ballers on Friday night at SRP Park. Augusta (22-21) mashed three home runs, including two from David McCabe, en route to their eighth win over Kannapolis (22-20) on the season.
Braves No. 2 overall prospect Owen Murphy got the start, and despite surrendering two solo home runs was able to make it through four full innings. Luis Pineda and Jacob Burke both went deep off of Murphy in the second and fourth innings respectively, but Murphy was able to dig deep and battle back as last year’s first round pick struck out a career-high seven batters, according to a news release from the Augusta GreenJackets.
Down 2-0 in the bottom of the fourth, Justin Janas worked a walk, before David McCabe destroyed his third home run in his last three days to even the score at 2-2. Nolan Martinez (W, 3-0) entered in the top of the fifth and went four innings without allowing a run. In the bottom of the fifth, Janas drove in a run with a sacrifice fly before McCabe slugged his second homer of the day, a two-run shot that put Augusta up 5-2. McCabe became the first GreenJackets player on the season with a multi-homer game.
In the bottom of the eighth, Janas matched McCabe with a four-RBI game of his own, as he belted a three-run homer into the Savannah River to extend the lead to 8-2. Jason Franks worked a scoreless ninth as the GreenJackets cruised to victory. The GreenJackets are now 8-2 against Kannapolis on the year, and have secured a split in this series, ensuring the GreenJackets will not lose a series in the month of May. Augusta moves to over .500 for the first time since April 6, when they were 1-0.
The GreenJackets are back in action at 6:05 p.m. Saturday as they look to take the series. Join the GreenJackets for the remainder of the homestand featuring live music, specials and fireworks! To learn more or purchase tickets visit: https://www.milb.com/augusta/fans/gj-homestand-preview.
