(Story courtesy Augusta GreenJackets)
NORTH AUGUSTA – Despite being no-hit for the first four innings of the game, the GreenJackets scored eight unanswered in their final four chances to steal their fourth straight win and fifth in six games against the Hill City Howlers.
Hill City (0-3, 31-38) scored first for the second night in a row, tagging Davis Polo as the righty was hit hard in the third after two strong frames. The Howlers began the frame with three straight singles, the last of which was a perfect bunt from Dauri Fernandez that Polo compounded with an error to score a run. Yuneiker Caceres followed with an RBI double, adding to the early total.
The Howlers tacked on with another big frame in the fifth, saddling Polo with five earned runs for the second straight walk. Once again, Hill City posted four hits, all of them singles, with Fernandez and Jonathan Martinez picking up the RBIs to stretch the lead up to five through five.
Augusta (3-0, 38-31) woke its bats up in the bottom of the fifth, taking advantage of starter Miguel Flores’ departure and battering Luke Fernandez in his second outing of the series. Luis Guanipa walked right off the bat and took second on a wild pitch, scoring as Conor Essenburg broke up the no-hitter with an RBI single. Alex Lodise followed with a double, before Cody Miller made it a one-run game with his third homer of the series.
The Jackets took the lead with a four-run seventh, as Chase Mobley’s command was nonexistent and allowed Augusta to jump in front for good. Mobley walked five of six batters he faced, unable to capitalize on a double play as a walk to Joe Olsavsky tied the game. Aaron Savary was summoned on to play fireman, but Savary hit Luis Parababire before issuing a two-run single to Luis Guanipa for a GreenJacket lead.
Kendy Richard earned the win in relief for Augusta, retiring all seven batters he faced for his fourth victory of the year. The GreenJackets end the week with five wins in six games, and outscored the Howlers by 26 runs on the week.
Augusta now heads on the road to battle the playoff-bound Charleston RiverDogs, with whom they split a six-game series last month. Hill City continues their two-week road trip by shuffling up to Hickory to duel with the red-hot Crawdads. When the Jackets next return home, it will be for a two-week homestand highlighted by the Fourth of July.
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