(Story courtesy Augusta GreenJackets)
NORTH AUGUSTA – Augusta found a previously untapped offensive wellspring, but it still wasn’t enough to unseat the Carolina Mudcats, who have now won four straight after Saturday’s 9-7 victory at SRP Park.
The GreenJackets took the field as the Augusta Rams, paying homage to the 1954 squad that featured Leonard Hunt, the first Black player to play professional baseball in Augusta. The night was done in conjunction with MiLB’s Nine Program, a coordinated effort to recognize the history of Black baseball in towns and leagues across the USA.
Carolina struck early against starter Adam Maier, as an RBI single from Blayberg Diaz in the second and a two-run homer from Yophery Rodriguez in the third made it a 3-0 ballgame in the game’s first few frames. However, Augusta came storming back with runs in four straight frames to take the lead.
The Augusta Rams’ offense got going courtest of the team’s newest member, as Joe Olsavsky knocked an RBI single in his first at bat with the ballclub. Augusta scored two more in the fourth on a little league home run from Robert Gonzalez, who went all the way around the bases on one routine ground ball thanks to an error from pitcher Josh Timmerman and right fielder Reidy Mercado. One more came across in the fifth thanks to a Kade Kern groundout, and Timmerman’s night came to a close.
Once the ballgame became a battle of the bullpens, each side scored in the sixth with Carolina getting a solo blast from Luis Castillo and Alexander Martinez scoring on a wild pitch. In the seventh, however, the late-inning magic of the Mudcats took over, and they found their groove. The first six batters of the frame all reached against relievers Adel Dilone and Giomar Diaz, with four runs scoring in quick succession to give Carolina the lead. Nine batters came to bat in the inning in total, and the Mudcats wouldn’t relinquish the lead for the rest of the night.
Carolina added an insurance run off of Will Silva in the ninth with an RBI single from Mercado, while Augusta’s comeback attempt against closer Bayden Root fell short despite scoring one in the ninth on a Cam Magee sac fly.
Morris Austin earned his second win of the year with 2.2 innings of relief, while Adel Dilone took his first loss at the single-A level with 4 earned runs in two innings. Root posted his second save of the year, and second decision of the week after grabbing a win in relief on Wednesday. Carolina now stands at 12-2, the best record in the Carolina League, while Augusta is 6-8 after dropping its season-high fourth consecutive game.
The series finale is slated 1:35 p.m. Sunday, with GreenJackets’ lefty Riley Frey taking the hill against right handed pitcher Yorman Galindez. It’s Dinosaur Day at the park, with animatronic dinos from Ed’s Dinosaur Live roaming the concourse at SRP Park. Tickets are still available online at greenjacketsbaseball.com or at the box office.
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