(Story courtesy Noah Adcock-Howeth, Augusta GreenJackets)
NORTH AUGUSTA – A three-run second inning for the Charleston RiverDogs set the tone on Friday night and gave the road squad a lead they refused to give back, leading from that point forward in an 8-3 win over the GreenJackets.
After Kadon Morton and Chris Villaman traded zeroes in the first, Charleston’s offense went to work in the second. After a leadoff strikeout of Angel Mateo, five consecutive batters reached on a single, double, triple, and pair of walks to plate a trio of RiverDogs.
The GreenJacket offense did their best to cut into the lead in the third against Villaman, striking quickly as Joe Olsavsky worked a leadoff walk and came all the way around to score on an RBI triple from Robert Gonzalez. Gonzalez himself came home with Luis Sanchez’ single, continuing a blistering weak for the young infielder. Sanchez would advance on a hit by pitch, but a 5-4-3 double play off the bat of Kade Kern prevented Augusta from tying or taking the lead.
In what has been a consistent trend from GreenJacket opponents this season, the RiverDogs retaliated against Augusta’s two runs of offense with two of their own to return the differential to three. RBIs from Odalys Peguero and Adrian Santana would push more across against Morton, who would battle through the fifth but take his second loss of the season.
The back end of the ballgame highlighted the differences between the two teams that has shown over the last three games. The ‘Jackets scored once in the sixth as Harry Owen singled home Will Verdung, and had the bases loaded with two outs in the same inning, but could not take further advantage. Augusta also loaded the bags with two down in the eighth, and once again came up empty. Conversely, Charleston’s offense tacked on runs in each of the game’s last three innings off of Giomar Diaz and Anthony Garcia, the latter of whom was making his GreenJacket debut.
Having clinched the series split at minimum via Friday’s win, Charleston will angle to take four straight on enemy turf when they battle Garrett Baumann and the GreenJackets. The Riverdogs’ starter has yet to be announced, and is expected to be made public late Saturday morning. The GreenJackets have added intrigue to Sunday’s finale, as Braves starter Ian Anderson is expected to make a rehab start at SRP Park as he continues his recovery from elbow surgery.
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