Gnats Game Notes: Thursday, May 12 Vs. Hickory

May 12, 2011 - South Atlantic League (SAL1)
Savannah Sand Gnats News Release


Savannah Sand Gnats (15-17, 4th, Southern) vs. Hickory Crawdads (19-13, 4th, Northern)

Game #33 -

Home Game #17 - Thursday - 7:05 RHP Ryan Fraser (2-3, 3.34) vs. RHP Justin Grimm (2-0, 3.44)

Historic Grayson Stadium, Savannah, GA

Radio: News/Talk 630 and sandgnats.com

Tonight: The Gnats, SAL affiliate of the New York Mets, look for their first sweep of the year in the final game of their four-game series against the Hickory Crawdads, SAL affiliate of the Texas Rangers. The Gnats are 5-2 on their current eight-game home stand.

Last Night: Gnats pitching combined on their third shutout of the year in Savannah's 2-0 win. Starter Taylor Whitenton went the first 4.2 innings, and the bullpen allowed just one hit over the game's final 4.1 frames.

Now Pitching: RHP Ryan Fraser is scheduled to make his sixth Savannah start and his seventh appearance. Fraser is coming off back-to-back wins in which he allowed two runs on 12 hits in 11.2 innings with six walks, three hit batsmen and just three strikeouts. 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. At Memphis, 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. The Gnats are 2-3 when Fraser starts, and have supported him 2.40 runs per game (12 runs/5 games).

#1 Pitching: The Gnats, who entered Monday third in the league in ERA, now lead the SAL in ERA (3.46) thanks to allowing just one earned run in their last 27 innings. The Gnats' 261 strikeouts are fourth-most, and their 90 walks are fifth-fewest in the League.

Vicious Vaughn: Cory Vaughn is up to fifth in the SAL in on-base percentage (.444) and is 20th in both batting average (.318) and OPS (.874).

Robbie Rollin': Robbie Shields had just four extra-base hits in his first 18 games, but has eight in his last 11.

Roster Update: Thursday, RHP Michael Weldon was transferred to Savannah from advanced-A St. Lucie. Weldon had made one appearance for St. Lucie, giving up one unearned run on two hits in one inning on Tuesday, May 10. Wheldon, who the Mets selected in the 27th round of the 2010 draft out of Wayland Baptist College, made 19 appearances for Kingsport in the Appalachian League where he struck out 30 batters in 25 innings.

Strong Starting: In the first seven games of the Gnats' home stand, starters Taylor Whitenton, Greg Peavey, Ryan Fraser, Erik Goeddel and Gonzalez Germen have combined on 43.1 innings yielding just four runs, three earned, on 27 hits. In their last 12 games, Savannah starters are 6-1 with a 1.09 ERA (8 ER/66.1 IP) with 55 strikeouts, 17 walks and 50 hits allowed. In those 12 games, Gnats starters have a strikeout to walk ratio of 3.24 and have given up as many as two runs just twice. Five times Gnats starters have held their opponent without a run and five times they have held their opponent to one run.

Vs. Hickory: The Gnats are 4-3 against Hickory in 2011, 3-0 at home and 1-3 on the road. Tonight's game concludes the season-series between the two teams. This is the first series against a Northern Division team the Gnats have hosted in 2011.



South Atlantic League Stories from May 12, 2011


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