Winning Streak Ends As Jackets Fall Short 9-6
August 14, 2011 - South Atlantic League (SAL1)
Augusta GreenJackets News Release
Greensboro, NC - The Augusta GreenJackets seven-game winning streak came to a crashing halt on Sunday afternoon as Augusta dropped the opener of a four-game series with the Greensboro Grasshoppers by a 9-6 score.
On a day when the normally reliable Shawn Sanford didn't have his best stuff, the GreenJackets rallied from a 5-2 deficit after three innings to tie the game at five in the sixth inning. Devin Harris drilled a two-run home run - his second in as many games - to bring the GreenJackets to within one. After a pitching change, Ryan Scoma's solo homer off the video board tied the game at five on the sixth inning back-to-back home runs.
Sanford ran into trouble quickly though in the bottom of the inning as the Grasshoppers scored four times to take a lead they wouldn't relinquish. Christian Yelich reached on an infield single to open the frame while a walk and bunt single loaded the bases off Sanford. After getting a pop out for the first out of the inning, Danny Black's grounder to the left side went off the tip of Bobby Haney's glove to allow the go-ahead run to score and give Greensboro a 6-5 lead, sending Sanford to the showers in the process.
With the bases still full, James Wooster singled to the left side on a ball that went off the glove of a diving Carlos Willoughby to allow a pair to score and push Greensboro's lead to three. An Augusta fielding error allowed the inning's fourth run to score, closing the book on Sanford. Entering the game with the league's best ERA, Sanford (9-8) was shelled to the tune of nine runs on nine hits and a pair of walks while striking out three.
Down 9-5, the GreenJackets got a run back when Ryan Lollis scored on a wild pitch to make it a three-run game. The GreenJackets left a pair of runners on in each the eighth and ninth innings, failing to convert with the tying run at the plate and falling 9-6 to break the winning streak. Grant Dayton picked up the last five outs of the game for the Grasshoppers to earn his third save of the year.
Greensboro took an early lead on Yelich's solo home run in the first to go up 1-0 on the first of six home runs hit in the contest, three for each side. Augusta answered in the second on Devin Harris's RBI double to tie the game before taking the lead at 2-1 on Bobby Haney's solo home run on the first pitch thrown in the third inning.
The Grasshoppers put up their first four-run inning of the game in the bottom of the third to reclaim the lead. Wooster led off the inning with a solo homer to tie the game while Mark Canha's three-run, two-out homer gave the Grasshoppers the 5-2 lead through three innings.
Despite serving up the game-tying homer in the sixth to Ryan Scoma, Kenneth Toves (2-0) got the last two outs of the inning prior to Greensboro's rally in the bottom of the sixth to get the win for the Grasshoppers.
The GreenJackets send Taylor Rogers (8-9, 3.03) to the mound on Monday to try and begin a new winning streak. He'll face Greensboro righty Rett Varner (6-6, 5.58). First pitch from Greensboro comes at 7:05 p.m. with radio pregame coverage beginning at 6:50, airing on WRDW-AM 1630 and online at www.greenjacketsbaseball.com .
Single-game tickets for any GreenJackets home game are currently available by calling the GreenJackets front office at 706-922-WINS while further information can be found online at www.greenjacketsbaseball.com .
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