SAL1 Augusta GreenJackets

Surkamp Dominates Again; Jackets Hold On to Win

Published on May 29, 2009 under South Atlantic League (SAL1)
Augusta GreenJackets News Release


Lexington, KY - Eric Surkamp recovered from a rough first inning and was simply masterful for the Augusta GreenJackets, who withstood a late Lexington Legends rally to pick up an 8-5 win in a series opener between the two teams at Applebee's Park on Friday night.

Surkamp settled down after allowing an early run and retired 13 hitters in a row until a two-out double in the fifth. Following the double, Surkamp (3-1) would retire seven of the next eight hitters to come to the plate before running out of gas in the eighth.

The Jackets got an early run as Josh Mazzola's groundout brought home Dom Duggan, who doubled to lead off the game. Brian Pelligrini answered in the first off Surkamp with an RBI single of his own.

After that it was all Augusta until the late innings. The Jackets got an unearned run in the third off the bat of Juan Perez with two outs and a Duggan sacrifice fly scored on in the fourth.

The GreenJackets sent eight to bat in the sixth inning off Michael Hacker to blow the game apart. With the bases loaded, Duggan's ground ball to shortstop brought home an unearned run on Ronnie Ramirez's fielding error. With two outs, manager Dave Machemer called on Josh Mazzola to pinch-hit for Mike Loberg, who had doubled in his previous at-bat. Mazzola delivered, drilling a 2-2 fastball into the right centerfield gap to clear the bases with his second triple of the season. Juan Perez brought home another with an RBI single in the eighth.

Lexington put up a fight in the eighth inning to make it a close game late. Michael Diaz provided the third of three straight Legends hits to bring Lexington a run. With two outs, an error by Charlie Culberson at third brought in another. Freddie Hernandez singled to chase Shane Kaufman from the game and with Daniel Runzler on the mound, a wild pitch scored the fourth run of the inning. Runzler buckled down and got a strikeout to end the eighth before striking out two more in the ninth - including tying run Ebert Rosario - to earn his ninth save of the season.

Surkamp allowed three runs - two earned - on five hits with a walk and eight strikeouts to get his third win. Kyle Greenwalt (2-5) took the loss after a five-inning effort where he allowed three runs on seven hits with a walk and three strikeouts. The GreenJackets have won their last five series-opening games and have won ten of their last 12 contests. Their 14-11 mark in the month of May is as high as they've been above .500 in a single calendar month this season.

Kyle Nicholson (3-4, 4.14) will try to extend Augusta's winning streak to four on Saturday night against Jordan Lyles (2-4, 2.96). First pitch from Applebee's Park comes at 7:05 p.m. and the game will be broadcast on WRDW AM 1630 and online at www.greenjacketsbaseball.com.

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South Atlantic League Stories from May 29, 2009


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