NORTH AUGUSTA – The Augusta GreenJackets fell to the Charleston RiverDogs in a tight contest on Thursday at SRP Park 6-5.
Augusta (14-15) once trailed by five, and despite making it a one-run game in the seventh Charleston (11-19) held on for the victory.
Jorge Bautista (L, 2-2) started for Augusta, and he went five innings for the second time this year. Bautista gave up five hits, five runs and three walks, but errors hurt the GreenJackets, with two of his runs unearned. The GreenJackets took the lead in the bottom of the second inning, with Ethan Workinger extending his league-leading hit streak to 13 games before Nick Clarno drove him home. The RiverDogs scored six unanswered runs, though, with a two-run home run from Cooper Kinney the highlight.
Seth Keller relieved Jorge Bautista for the top of the sixth and dealt four excellent innings of work, giving up one run on three hits while striking out five. Keller is the Augusta leader in ERA with a 0.95 mark on the season.
In the bottom of the seventh, Nick Clarno, E.J. Exposito, and Andrew Keck all reached base against Jeff Hakanson, before Jair Casanova struck a line drive to left that sailed off the scoreboard for a grand slam to make it 6-5. For Casanova, it marked his second home run in as many nights. In the month of May, Casanova is hitting .410 with 14 runs batted in, best in the Carolina League by a wide margin in that timespan.
In the bottom of the ninth, Keck reached base with a two-out walk, but Junior William (S, 1) closed the door to secure victory for the visitors. Drew Sommers (W, 1-1) struck out six batters in his two innings of work, picking up the victory.
The series with Charleston continues at 7:05 p.m. Friday at SRP Park. The No. 2 overall prospect in the Braves organization, Owen Murphy, will be making the start for the GreenJackets. For tickets, information on promotions, and more, visit greenjacketsbaseball.com!
