SAL1 Lexington Legends

Villalona Launches Second Grand Slam Against Lexington

Published on August 17, 2008 under South Atlantic League (SAL1)
Lexington Legends News Release


Different day, same result for the Lexington Legends. Lexington trotted out a new starting pitcher and a new catcher, but the Augusta GreenJackets had no trouble for the third straight game putting away the Legends, this time by a 14-2 score. Augusta has now won all seven games against Lexington this season.

The GreenJackets wasted no time jumping out to a lead as they scored runs in each of the first four innings. Thomas Neal drove in Shane Jordan with a single in the first inning, Elio Sarmiento drove in Garrett Baker with a single in the second inning, Dayton Buller drove home Neal with a single and Andrew Davis doubled home Buller with a double in the third and Neal singled home Jordan in the fourth to give Augusta a 5-0 lead after four innings.

Lexington mounted a mini-rally with single runs in the fifth and six innings. Russell Dixon walked and scored on Jacob Priday's double in the fifth to score the Legends' first run. Brian Pellegrini then drove in his team-high 63rd RBI of the season with a triple that scored Chris Jackson in the sixth.

The small Lexington rally brought the Legends within three runs of Augusta but turned out to be just the calm before the storm as the GreenJackets exploded for eight runs in the seventh inning off Lexington reliever Brett Robinson. Garrett Baker homered to lead off the eighth. Andrew Davis walked and Elio Sarmiento singled to bring up James Simmons. Simons then drove Davis home with a ground-rule double. Sarmiento scored on a fielder's choice from Shane Jordan when the Legends' defense couldn't record an out.

Juan Ciriaco kept the rally going with a single that scored Simmons, and Thomas Neal walked to load the bases. Robinson then struck out Buller for the first out in the inning after seven batters had come to the plate. The strikeout was just a brief respite for the reliever as he surrendered a grand slam to Angel Villalona before finally being relieved by Fernando Abad. The grand slam was Villalona's second this season against the Legends. Abad surrendered a double before striking out the last two batters to end the inning.

The final innings were eventful for the Legends as Kyle Miller moved from third to catcher in place of the newest Legend Julian Henson. Henson was added to the team prior to Sunday's game after Jonathan Fixler was promoted to AA Corpus Christi. Miller was drafted by the Astros as a catcher, but Sunday's game marked his first appearance at the position this season.

Scott Barnes earned the win for Augusta after surrendering two runs in five innings, and Luis Pardo took his eighth loss of the season for Lexington after giving up five runs in just three and one-third innings.

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South Atlantic League Stories from August 17, 2008


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