Despite Few Hits, GreenJackets Hang On in 5-4 Win
July 7, 2010 - South Atlantic League (SAL1)
Augusta GreenJackets News Release
Augusta, GA - With help from four errors and five walks issued by the Kannapolis Intimidators, the Augusta GreenJackets held on for a 5-4 win over the Intimidators despite just five hits on Thursday night. The win is Augusta's fifth in six games against Kannapolis this season.
Zack Wheeler made his first start since May 18th and was scheduled to go just one inning for the GreenJackets in preparation for his appearance in Sunday's MLB Futures Game in Anaheim. Wheeler struck out the side but he allowed a run on Kyle Colligan's RBI triple - one of two hits in the inning off Wheeler - to put the Intimidators up by one in the first.
The Jackets used a hustle play from Daniel Cook to tie the game in the third. Cook stretched a ball hit into shallow right-center into a double and scored on Ydwin Villegas' RBI single to tie things in the third. Andy Reichard threw four smooth innings of relief until running into trouble in the sixth. Colligan led off the inning with a solo home run off Reichard to give the Intimidators a 2-1 lead.
Augusta took the lead for good, picking up four runs in the sixth and seventh innings on just one hit. After two walks and an error loaded the bases for Chris Dominguez, Luke Anders tied the game with a sacrifice fly. Tommy Joseph walked to load them again before Hector Sanchez provided the lone Augusta hit in a two-inning stretch - a double to the right field corner that scored two and gave the Jackets a two-run lead.
Kannapolis got a run back in the seventh on a Ryan Hamme solo home run, his first hit with the Intimidators, but Evan Crawford scored on a throwing error in the bottom of the inning to bring the lead back to two.
After Reichard departed in the eighth, Jose Casilla was charged with the task of getting the last four outs of the game. The first hitter he faced was Nick Ciolli, who doubled in a run to bring Augusta's lead to one. Casilla got a grounder to Ryan Cavan who made a heads-up throw to third to get the final out of the eighth after a runner rounded the base too far.
Casilla put runners at the corners with one out in the ninth inning of a 5-4 game, but got out of trouble with a 5-4-3 game-ending double play ball from Zach Kayne. Casilla earned his fifth save of the year by preserving the win for Andy Reichard (1-0), who fired 6.2 innings. He allowed three runs on five hits and three walks but struck out four.
Matt Hopps (1-7) gets the loss for Kannapolis, allowing four runs - three earned - on just three hits. He walked four though and struck out five.
The GreenJackets send Jeremy Toole (2-3, 3.51) to the mound in the second game of the series on Friday to face Cameron Bayne (6-8, 3.59). First pitch will come at 7:05 p.m. with the pregame action beginning at 6:50 p.m. on WRDW AM 1630, www.greenjacketsbaseball.com and www.wrdwam.com.
South Atlantic League Stories from July 7, 2010
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- Suns Offense Cooled off by Heat Wave 7-2 - Hagerstown Suns
- Intimidators Earn Split, Win 7-4 - Kannapolis Cannon Ballers
- Gnats Game Notes: Wednesday, July 7 at Rome - Savannah Sand Gnats
- Pitchers Shut Down Augusta as Legends Win 4-1 - Lexington Legends
- Power Game Notes - Charleston Dirty Birds
- Claws Five-Game Winning Streak Snapped, 2-0 - Jersey Shore BlueClaws
- Despite Few Hits, GreenJackets Hang On in 5-4 Win - Augusta GreenJackets
- Romanski, RiverDogs Send Tourists Packing, Win 4-2 to Split Series - Charleston RiverDogs
- Crawdads Drop Nail-Biter in Delmarva, 2-1 - Hickory Crawdads
- Bases Loaded Walk Lifts 'Birds Over Crawdads, 2-1 - Delmarva Shorebirds
- Veeck Named One Of Charleston's 35 Visionaries - Charleston RiverDogs
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