SAL1 Lexington Legends

Savannah Breaks Tie in 9th, Beats Legends 6-5

Published on September 1, 2011 under South Atlantic League (SAL1)
Lexington Legends News Release


Savannah broke a 5-5 tie with a run in the top of the ninth and held on to beat the Lexington Legends 6-5 Thursday night at Whitaker Bank Ballpark.

The Sand Gnats took at 2-0 lead in the top of the second inning. With one out, Blake Forsythe singled and Aderlin Rodriguez doubled, putting runners at second and third. Juan Carlos Gamboa followed with a single, scoring Forsythe. Alonzo Harris grounded to shortstop Ben Orloff, who threw to second for a force play. Second baseman Delino DeShields Jr. tried for an inning-ending double play, but his relay to first was high for an error as Rodriguez scored and Harris moved to second.

The Legends got a run back in the bottom of the second. Mike Kvasnicka reached second on a throwing error by Rodriguez, the third baseman. Kvasnicka moved to third on a single by Ben Heath and scored on a sacrifice fly to right field by Orloff.

Savannah added a run in the third on a leadoff homer by Wilfredo Tovar, and extended the lead to 4-1 in the fifth on a walk to Darrell Ceciliani and a triple by Rafael Fernandez. It was Fernandez' second triple of the game and 11th of the year, tying him for the South Atlantic League lead with Andy Vasquez of West Virginia.

The Legends scored twice in the sixth against reliever Chase Huchingson. A leadoff double by Bryce Lane and a one-out double by Emilio King produced one run. King came home on a single by Domingo Santana, cutting the Savannah lead to 4-3.

Harris led off the top of the eighth with an infield single. Ceciliani followed with a bunt single, and the runners moved to second and third on a throwing error by third baseman Kvasnicka. With the infield in, Tovar hit a bouncer to shortstop. Orloff threw to the plate to get Harris in a rundown between third and home, but Harris scored when first baseman Telvin Nash, who was covering the plate, dropped the ball as he made the tag on Harris.

The Legends tied the game in the bottom of the eighth. Lane led off with his second double of the game. DeShields walked and King reached on an error by Rodriguez, loading the bases. Santana singled to right field, scoring Lane and DeShields to tie the game at 5-5. With three runs batted in in the game, Santana now has 20 RBI in 14 games with the Legends since coming from the Philadelphia organization in a trade that sent former Legend Hunter Pence to the Phillies.

In the top of the ninth, Gamboa, who had joined Savannah earlier in the day after a promotion from Kingsport of the Appalachian League, singled to lead off. A throwing error by pitcher Murilo Gouvea on a pickoff attempt allowed Gamboa to reach second. Harris sacrificed Gamboa to third, from where he scored when Tovar's grounder got by Kvasnicka for an error.

The Legends got a runner to second in the bottom of the ninth on Ben Heath's single and a wild pitch, but could not score.

Adam Kolarek (7-0), who worked the seventh and eighth innings, got the win. Gouvea (1-3) took the loss.

The second game of the five-game series will be played Friday night at Whitaker Bank Ballpark. Game time is 7:05 p.m.

Attendance 4,501

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South Atlantic League Stories from September 1, 2011


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