Savannah Sand Gnats Game Notes
May 22, 2011 - South Atlantic League (SAL1)
Savannah Sand Gnats News Release
Today: The Gnats, SAL affiliate of the New York Mets, play game three of a four-game series against the first-place Greenville Drive, SAL affiliate of the Boston Red Sox. The Gnats trail the Drive by one half game for first place in the SAL Southern Division.
Last Night: The Gnats scored twice in the eighth inning - on a 2B Wilfredo Tovar sacrifice fly and a DH Luis Nieves RBI single - to break a 3-3 tie on their way to a 5-3 win. Josh Edgin threw three scoreless innings for his first win of 2011.
Now Pitching: RHP Ryan Fraser is scheduled to make his eighth Savannah start. Fraser walked a personal season-high five batters in his last start, when he gave up three runs on seven hits, including two home runs in a 9-4 loss at Charleston. 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 2-5 when Fraser starts, and have supported him with 2.29 runs per game (16 runs/7 games), the lowest mark of any Savannah starter.
Standings Update: The Gnats jumped two teams with their win last night and are back to second in the SAL Southern Division, one half game out of first place. The top five teams in the SAL Southern Division are all within a game of first place.
Robbie Rollin': Robbie Shields owns a Gnats' team-best 11-game hitting streak over which time he is 20-for-46 (.435) with seven doubles, two triples, nine runs scored, eight RBI, five walks and five strikeouts. His 11-game hitting streak is the second-longest active streak in the league behind Greenville's Miles Head, who owns a 12-game streak. In 18 games in May, Shields is now hitting .348/.418/.565 (AVG/OBP/SLG) with 12 extra base hits and eight walks against nine strikeouts. He is tied for the SAL lead with four triples.
Iron Man: Cory Vaughn, who has played in all 42 of the Gnats' games, is the only player in the SAL who has played in every single one of his team's games. His .457 on-base percentage is second in the SAL.
Career First: Aderlin Rodriguez's two-run triple last night was the first triple of his career. Coming into last night, his career extra-base hits consisted of 33 doubles and 24 home runs. ... Rodriguez has hit safely in his last four games, going 7-for-16 (.438) with a triple, two home runs and six RBI in that span.
Three or Four: After last night's win, the Gnats improved to 16-5 overall and 8-4 at home when holding the opposition to three runs or fewer. The Gnats are 7-1 at home when scoring four or more, but just 6-5 on the road when scoring four or more.
Vs. Greenville: The Gnats are 4-2 against the Drive in 2011, all at home. Of the 20 meetings between the two teams, 12 games are scheduled for Savannah and eight in Greenville. The Gnats finish the first half with four games in Greenville June 16-19.
South Atlantic League Stories from May 22, 2011
- Flacco, Pettit Lead Shorebirds to 8-3 Win in Game Three - Delmarva Shorebirds
- Rogers Rolls as Augusta Tops Charleston, 5-2 - Charleston RiverDogs
- Delmarva Scores Seven Straight to Beat Kannapolis - Kannapolis Cannon Ballers
- GreenJackets Cash In On Charleston's Dog Day in Win - Augusta GreenJackets
- Gnats Retake First Place with Five-Run Eighth Inning - Savannah Sand Gnats
- BlueClaws Get ahead Early, Stay in Front for Win - Charleston Dirty Birds
- Legends Come from behind for 9-6 Win over Asheville - Lexington Legends
- BlueClaws Beat Power 7-3 for 5th Straight Win - Jersey Shore BlueClaws
- Braves Defeat Crawdads 5-4 - Rome Emperors
- 'Dads Rally in 9th, but Braves Hang on for 5-4 Win - Hickory Crawdads
- Savannah Sand Gnats Game Notes - Savannah Sand Gnats
- West Virginia Power Game Notes - Charleston Dirty Birds
- Grasshoppers Leap Over Suns with Late Inning Surge, Win 9-6 - Hagerstown Suns
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