Tourists Shutout By Sand Gnats; Amass Only Two Hits

SAVANNAH, GA-- The Asheville Tourists will not be the only team happy to see the Savannah Sand Gnats' home field, Historic Grayson Stadium, disappear from the South Atlantic League circuit next season. Hits have been hard to come by for Asheville all series and on Saturday night they were limited to just two; both singles. Savannah had only five hits, all singles, but managed to come away with a 3-0 victory over Asheville.

The Tourists had only one occasion where they put a runner in scoring position. Roberto Ramos reached on an error in the second inning and stole second base with two outs. Ramos was left at second base after Casey Delgado struck out Luis Jean to end the inning. The Tourists never had a runner reach third base.

Asheville recorded several well hit balls off Delgado, but with the humidity high and the wind non-existent they died in the outfield as routine fly-outs. Credit must be given to Delgado who tossed seven shutout innings for the Gnats to pick up the win.

Carlos Polanco suffered his first loss since June 14th and lasted a mere four innings. Polanco recorded five strikeouts but his pitch count quickly elevated to force his early exit. Jerry Vasto, Yoely Bello, and Jerad McCrummen combined to pitch four innings of hitless baseball out of Asheville's bullpen.

Savannah's three runs came early. In the second inning they loaded the bases with no outs. The first run scored on a fielder's choice while the second was plated on Patrick Biondi's single to left. In the third, JC Rodriguez connected with a two-out RBI single to center.

Cameron Griffin notched his sixth save of the season with a one, two, three ninth inning. All three batters Griffin faced crushed a pitch into the outfield but each time fell for an out.

The Tourists will attempt to avoid being swept with Sunday's series finale scheduled for 2:05pm.