Gnats Game Notes: Sunday, April 10 at West Virginia Power
Published on April 10, 2011 under South Atlantic League (SAL1)
Savannah Sand Gnats News Release
Savannah Sand Gnats (1-0) vs. West Virginia Power (0-1)
Game #2 & 3 - Road Game #2&3 - Sunday - 1:05
RHP Ryan Fraser (0-0, 0.00) vs. RHP Tyler Waldron (0-0, 0.00)
RHP Yohan Almonte (0-0, 0.00) vs. LHP Zach Dodson (0-0, 0.00)
Appalachian Power Park, Charleston, WV
Radio: News/Talk 630 & sandgnats.com
Today: The Gnats, SAL affiliate of the New York Mets, are scheduled to play a double header against the WV Power, SAL affiliate of the Pittsburgh Pirates. It will be the teams' third attempt to play the second game of the season after rainouts on Friday and Saturday. The Gnats will travel to Hickory, NC after today's games for a four-game series beginning Monday.
Home Opener: The Gnats will come back to Savannah for their home opener on Friday, April 15th against the Greenville Drive. First pitch is scheduled for 7:05 PM. Fireworks follow the game on Opening Night and gates will open two hours prior to game time. The first 5,000 fans to visit Grayson Stadium on Opening Weekend will receive a Magnet Schedule courtesy of the US Coast Guard.
Thursday Night: The Gnats scored in each of the first four innings on the way to a 7-0 lead and an 8-0 victory over West Virginia. Starter Greg Peavey retired the first 11 batters in a row, while striking out six of those 11. He finished five innings and yielded just two hits and a walk in his professional debut. The Gnats offense slugged four doubles, two home runs and 12 hits overall. The bullpen of Ronny Morla and Gabriel Zavalacombined on four perfect innings with four strikeouts.
Now Pitching: RHP Ryan Fraser is scheduled to make his Savannah debut and his first professional start in game one this afternoon. Fraser pitched exclusively out of the bullpen for short-season Brooklyn in 2010. With the Cyclones, he was 3-3 with a 1.44 ERA and 12 saves in 31.1 IP. He struck out 39, walked 20 and yielded just 16 hits. In ratio form, that's 4.6 H/9 IP, 5.7 BB/9 and 11.2 K/9. The Mets drafted Fraser in the 16th round of the 2010 draft out of Memphis. The Rays originally drafted Fraser out of Walker Valley HS in the 49th round in 2006, but he chose to attend Gulf Coast Community College and then Memphis. Fraser excelled on the field and in the classroom as an amateur. On the field, he led the Tigers with 93 strikeouts and 92 IP in 2010 on his way to three C-USA Pitcher of the Week honors and a Second Team All C-USA selection. In the classroom, he was a member of the C-USA All-Academic Team in 2010 and ran a 4.0 grade point average in high school where he was a member of the National Honor Society.
Lucky Seven on Opening Night: Seven of the nine batters in the Gnats order had hits... Gnats pitchers worked seven 1-2-3 innings (West Virginia only had runners in the 4th and 5th innings).
Now Pitching 2: Yohan Almonte, the scheduled starter in game two, will be making his Gnats debut. In 2010, Almonte led the New York-Penn League in ERA (1.91), IP (89.2) and WHIP (0.93). He had the second-lowest batting average against among starters at .207 and the third-fewest unintentional walk/9 IP (1.41). He owned a sterling K/BB ratio of 4 (60 K/15 BB). The 21-year old Almonte has moved steadily through the Mets system advancing from the Dominican Summer League in 2008 to the Gulf Coast League and then the Appalachian League in 2009, to the New York Penn League in 2010 before joining the Gnats, his first full-season team in 2011. He was signed as a non-drafted free agent in 2007.
Familiar Story: Thursday marked the third-straight year the Gnats have won their season-opener. In each of the previous two years, the Savannah team has won its first three games.
Vs. West Virginia: Savannah is 1-0 against the Power in 2011 after going 4-4 against the Power last year. Each team won three of four games in their home park. This is the second straight year the Gnats have opened their season against the Power. Last year, the Gnats won 9-3 on Opening Night, and took three of four to begin the season, outscoring the Power 19-9 in the four-game series.
South Atlantic League Stories from April 10, 2011
- Tourists Map Back-To-Back Wins In Sunday's Doubleheader - Hickory Crawdads
- Drive Claim Series with 10-7 Win Over GreenJackets - Greenville Drive
- BlueClaws Drop Both Games of Sunday's Doubleheader - Jersey Shore BlueClaws
- Late Rally Falls Short for Jackets in 10-7 Loss - Augusta GreenJackets
- West Virginia Sweeps Doubleheader - Charleston Dirty Birds
- Power Sweep Gnats Sunday - Savannah Sand Gnats
- Suns Rally Past Braves to Sweep Series - Rome Emperors
- Legends Take Advantage of Errors, Walks, Beat Charleston 12-4 - Lexington Legends
- Schutz, Pope Lead Shorebirds to 9-1 Win Over Grasshoppers - Delmarva Shorebirds
- Legends Use Big Innings, Charleston Errors to Down RiverDogs - Charleston RiverDogs
- Power Game Notes - Charleston Dirty Birds
- Gnats Game Notes: Sunday, April 10 at West Virginia Power - Savannah Sand Gnats
- Shorebirds Game Notes: Vs. Greensboro - Delmarva Shorebirds
- When in Rome, Suns Continue Winning Roll - Hagerstown Suns
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