Augusta Splits Doubleheader, Wins Series with Columbia

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Augusta Splits Doubleheader, Wins Series with Columbia

Polo Stars in Opener, Rally Falls Short in Nightcap

NORTH AUGUSTA, SC: The GreenJackets wrapped up the weekend with a Sunday doubleheader against the Fireflies, winning the opener 2-1 before falling short 8-5 in game two.

Game one was a pitchers’ duel between Davis Polo and Michael Lombardi, as the two starters went blow for blow through the shortened game. Each man worked around light difficulty in the middle innings to push onward into the ballgame.

Augusta scored first against Lombardi, with Junior Garcia starting the bottom of the third with a base hit the other way. Garcia took second on a groundout before advancing to third on an Alex Lodise single. With men at the corners, Lombardi committed a balk that scored Garcia for the game’s first run. Luis Guanipa followed up with a double, but Lodise got a late break and was thrown out at the plate.

The Fireflies tied the game against Polo in the top of the fourth, as Augusta’s lead lasted just two batters. Sean Gamble slapped a double the other way to start the inning, and promptly scored on a bloop single from Brooks Bryan. The run would be the only one to cross against Polo, who worked six strong frames in his first professional quality start.

Augusta’s game-winning swing came in the bottom of the sixth, working against the reliever Henson Leal. Juan Mateo poked a one-out single, putting the go-ahead run on base. With two outs and two strikes, Michael Martinez hammered a liner to left-center field. Mateo seemed content to stop at third, but Gamble bobbled the ball in center, allowing Mateo to come all the way around to score. Styven Paez ended the day with a 1-2-3 seventh inning, securing his first pro save and giving the Jackets the series win.

The nightcap was less kind to the GreenJackets, as starter Kendy Richard watched three runs come home on two hits and three errors in the top of the first, a disadvantage the Jackets would not recover from. Richard settled in after the frame and posted three subsequent scoreless innings, but still took his second loss of the year.

The Jackets struggled to fight back against Darwin Rodriguez, who went a season-high five innings and earned the win with one unearned run allowed. That unearned run came with two outs in the second inning, as JC Vanek was unable to secure a bouncer from Luis Sanchez, allowing Martinez to score.

Columbia tacked on two more in the top of the 5^th, and the 5-1 score looked insurmountable until Martinez crushed a two-strike slider in the bottom of the 6^th from Yeri Perez for a two-run home run. Trailing by two entering the 7^th and final inning, Lewis Sifontes was summoned to hold the Fireflies at bay, but Columbia pushed three runs across including a two-run homer from Yandel Ricardo to extend the lead up to a game-high five.

Augusta did not concede without a fight, as four straight men reached against Randy Ramnarace to start the bottom half, scoring a run and chasing Ramnarace without an out recorded. Columbia turned to Max Martin for his first save as a pro, and despite a single that brought the winning run to the plate, Martin punched out Mateo and Martinez in succession to secure the doubleheader split.

The GreenJackets end the week five games above .500 on the year, and just a game out of first place in the Carolina League South Division with 21 games to play in the first half. After an off day tomorrow, Augusta travels to face a scorching hot Kannapolis Cannon Ballers team, which has won seven in a row and won four of six in Augusta last month.

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