Sand Gnats Shut out Drive, 4-0
Published on August 14, 2014 under South Atlantic League (SAL1)
Greenville Drive News Release
Savannah, GA - Thursday's series opener between the Greenville Drive (18-36, 52-71) and the Savannah Sand Gnats (34-20, 78-42) was all about the pitching for seven and a half innings. One big half inning later, the Sand Gnats had pulled away en route to a 4-0 victory.
Both starters did their jobs in keeping their opponents off the scoreboard and their team in the game. Drive hurler Ty Buttrey put together his best start of the season with six shutout frames in which he allowed two hits and three walks with six strikeouts.
As good as Buttrey was, Savannah's Logan Taylor (1-3) was even better. He fell just short of going the distance, but he held the Drive scoreless through eight and two-third innings while giving up four hits and one walk with four strikeouts.
The Sand Gnats finally struck in the bottom of the eighth against Drive reliever Myles Smith (4-9). Patrick Biondi led off the inning with a double, and it looked like Smith would escape trouble after getting a flyout and a strikeout; however, a wild pitch scored Biondi all the way from second to give Savannah the lead.
The floodgates opened from there, as following a walk to Dominic Smith, Matt Oberste lined an RBI triple to left to make the score 2-0. Victor Cruzado then delivered an RBI double to score Oberste, and Nelfi Zapata closed out the big inning with a run-scoring single.
After Taylor issued a two-out walk to Jimmy Rider in the ninth, Savannah turned to reliever Dawrin Frias, and he coaxed a popout out of Wendell Rijo to end the game.
Oberste and Jorge Rivero each collected two hits to lead the Sand Gnats. Manuel Margot went 1-4 for Greenville to extend his hitting streak to 13 games.
The series continues in Savannah on Friday night at 7:05. The Drive will send LH Trey Ball (3-9, 4.92) to the mound, and RH Ricky Knapp (6-6, 3.98) takes the ball for the Sand Gnats.
South Atlantic League Stories from August 14, 2014
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- Crawdads Serve at Hickory Soup Kitchen - Hickory Crawdads
- WV Power Game Notes - Charleston Dirty Birds
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