Pitching and Defense Leads the Way Versus Kannapolis
June 2, 2022 - Carolina League (CarL)
Augusta GreenJackets News Release
NORTH AUGUSTA, SC: Incredible pitching and defense was the story on Thursday night for the Augusta GreenJackets (25-23) in their third matchup against the Kannapolis Cannon Ballers (19-29) as the GreenJackets tossed their second shutout of the season in a 4-0 victory.
Augusta's offense would produce early in the first with an RBI double by Brandon Parker bringing Cal Conley around to score to make it 1-0 GreenJackets.
Two more runs would touch home for Augusta in the bottom of the fifth inning as Cal Conley grounded a ball to short with a runner breaking for home but the play on the plate would be broken up as the ball was dropped by Cannon Ballers' catcher Victor Torres, resulting in a pair of runs scoring to up the lead to 3-0.
That would prove to be plenty of run support for the GreenJackets' pitchers as they made offense difficult for the Kannapolis bats behind starting pitcher Landon Leach who got it all going with four shutout innings on the mound with six strikeouts.
Tyler Owens would pick him up out of the bullpen and followed suit by tossing two scoreless innings with four strikeouts to carry the game into the seventh still 3-0 Augusta.
Rolddy Muñoz would be the next man out of the pen for the GreenJackets and he dealt a perfect seventh before running into slight trouble in the eighth with runners at second and third with one out. But thanks to a little help from his left fielder, Kadon Morton, Muñoz escaped the inning with nothing across as Morton made a diving catch off the bat of DJ Gladney, and then threw the ball back to second base to double off Logan Glass who got caught in between second and third.
The highlight-reel catch by Morton helped the GreenJackets preserve the shutout. They'd add one more run in the eighth inning on an RBI double by Rusber Estrada to make it 4-0. Rob Griswold took the ball in the ninth inning and got through the inning in four batters to complete Augusta's second shutout win of the season by topping the Cannon Ballers 4-0.
Tyler Owens picked up his fourth win of the season for the GreenJackets with Kannapolis starting pitcher Brooks Gosswein taking the loss.
The offense was paced behind Brandon Parker who doubled twice in the game, bringing in a run with his first one in the opening inning, and his additional two-bagger in the eighth eventually led to him scoring an insurance run. Cal Conley also added his 13th multi-hit game of the season with his 2/4 night at the plate.
Augusta will look to take a commanding 3-1 series lead on Friday night against Kannapolis with J.J. Niekro taking the hill for the GreenJackets versus Kohl Simas for the Cannon Ballers. First pitch is scheduled for 7:05 pm.
The fifth homestand at SRP Park continues Friday as the GreenJackets put on the red uniforms on Friday night for Braves Buzzfest with a special visit for Braves mascot Blooper who will make an appearance in North Augusta. The White-Claw Pregame Concert Series continues with music from MacKenzie Blake (4:30-5:30 pm) on Saturday, in addition to Cancer Survivor/Awareness night along with another Fireworks Extravaganza following the game presented by Augusta University Health. The homestand finishes on Sunday with Bark in the Park sponsored by Hollywood Feed along with Sunday Funday!
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