Gnats Game Notes: Friday, July 30 Vs. Augusta

Published on July 30, 2010 under South Atlantic League (SAL1)
Savannah Sand Gnats News Release


ThunderStix Giveaway presented by the AT&T Real Yellow Pages tonight for the first 1,000 fans.

Savannah Sand Gnats (13-20/55-48, 7th, Southern) vs. Augusta GreenJackets (17-15/58-44, 3rd, Southern)

Game #104 - Home Game #51 - Friday - 7:05

RHP Collin McHugh (3-6, 3.28) vs. RHP Jeremy Toole (3-4, 4.25)

Historic Grayson Stadium, Savannah, GA

Radio: WBMQ News/Talk 630, sandgnats.com

Tonight: The first-half-champion Gnats host the Augusta GreenJackets in game two of their four-game series. The Gnats have dropped eight of their last 11 games.

Last Night: The GreenJackets scored an unearned in the top of the first and added three runs in the top of the fourth against starter John Churchto grab a 4-0 lead on their way to a 4-1 win over Savannah. Cesar Puello, who was 2-3, had two of Savannah's five hits. Reliever Gabriel Zavala gave up just one hit over three innings of relief with six strikeouts. .

Now Pitching: Collin McHugh will make his 13th start of the year. McHugh gave up three runs on seven hits in six innings in his last start in West Virginia. He walked a season-high four batters and struck out a season-high 11. All three runs McHugh allowed came in the first inning, but he settled in after that in a game Savannah won 6-3 in 10 innings. The Gnats are 3-9 when McHugh starts and have supported him with 3.00 runs per game, the lowest of any Gnat pitcher. Last year, McHugh was 8-2 with a 2.76 ERA in 75 innings for the Brooklyn Cyclones in the New York-Penn League. He struck out 79 and walked 21. McHugh was 13-9 with five saves in his career at Berry (GA) College and led the Southern States Athletic Conference in strikeout rate (9.05 K/9) in his junior year in 2008. The Mets drafted McHugh in the 18th round in 2008.

Vs. Augusta: Savannah is 6-11 against Augusta this year, 1-4 at home and 5-7 on the road. The Gnats are 24-40 against Augusta since becoming a Mets affiliate prior to the 2007 season.

Puello Power: After a 2-3 game last night, Cesar Puello has hit safely in eight straight and 16 of his last 17 games. He's hitting .347/.439/.439 (AVG/OBP/SLG) in 26 games in July. His .439 OBP in July is second in the league in that time behind Chris McGuiness (.477) of Greenville. Puello has raised his batting average 22 points in his last 17 games. He's part of a three-way tie for fourth in the SAL with 38 stolen bases, two behind Jeremy Hazelbaker of Greenville who leads the league with 40.

Not As Stable: The Gnats have already made 30 transactions since the first half ended after making just 29 transactions in the entire first half. Last year, the Gnats made 80 transactions.

New Half: In the first half, while going 42-28, Gnats' pitching allowed just 3.3 runs per game while the offense scored 4.7 runs per contest. In the second half, the team's scoring is down to 4.0 runs per game, while Savannah pitching is allowing more runs, an average of 4.5 runs per game. In the first half, the Gnats averaged 1.4 more runs per game than their opponent, while in the second half, they are averaging 0.5 runs per game less than the opposition.

3-8: At 3-8 in their last 11 games, the Gnats have been outscored by a combined 20 runs, 65-45. Gnats' pitching has given up seven runs or more six times in those eleven games, all of which were losses.

Home Cooking? The Gnats are 5-10 at home in the second half, the worst home record in the league, after going 24-11 at home in the first half, the best home record of any team in the league.

Still at the Top: The Gnats lead the SAL in ERA (2.81), strikeouts (885) and innings pitched (954.1). At the end of the first half, the Gnats had a 2.52 ERA, so their team ERA has gone up by 0.29 in the last 33 games.

Playoffs: By virtue of winning the first half, the Gnats will have home-field advantage in the Southern Division Championship Series. The second half winner will host game one on Wednesday, September 8 before the series returns to Savannah for game two on Friday, September 10 and game three, if necessary, on Saturday, September 11.

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South Atlantic League Stories from July 30, 2010


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