Cabral Dominates as Augusta Wins Home Opener

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Cabral Dominates as Augusta Wins Home Opener

Rookie Punches Out Eight as GreenJackets Climb to .500

NORTH AUGUSTA, SC: Aiven Cabral struck out eight batters in six brilliant innings as early offense carried the day in a 4-2 win for the GreenJackets over the Fayetteville Woodpeckers Tuesday night.

The Jackets took the lead in the first and never relinquished, as Tate Southisene used his speed to manufacture a run against starter Jagger Beck early. Southisene worked a walk to start the bottom of the frame, and promptly stole second on the next pitch. Southisene swiped third one batter, and sprinted home on a grounder from Luis Guanipa to but Augusta up early.

The rest of Augusta’s offense all came in the second inning, as the bottom of the order came out hacking to stretch the lead out in the series opener. Juan Mateo and Nick Montgomery each smacked singles on the first pitches they saw, and both advanced into scoring position on a groundout. Junior Garcia shot a liner the other way to double the lead, and Dallas Macias dropped a chip shot down the line to score Montgomery on the next at bat. Garcia crossed on a 6-3 groundout, and Augusta hung four runs on Beck in the first two innings.

The early four runs were more than enough from Cabral, who flew through the early innings looking all but untouchable. After punching out just one hitter in his pro debut last week, Cabral struck out four in the first nine batters he saw, and eight in total, the most by a single pitcher for Augusta so far this year. Cabral’s one blemish was a solo home run allowed to Nick Monistere in the top of the 4^th, but little other resistance was offered.

Cabral’s brilliance was extra important, as the Augusta bats went cold after the second. After Beck worked a 1-2-3 third, Fayetteville handed the ball off to Ryan Verdugo, who scattered four walks but did not allow a hit in four scoreless frames to blank the home side.

Cabral went through six strong innings, and turned things over to Styven Paez, who danced out of danger in the 7^th before needing help in the 8^th. Paez walked one and hit another in the 7^th to bring the tying run to the plate, but induced a pop up from top prospect Kevin Alvarez to stay in front. Paez looked primed for a quick 8^th, but a two-out walk and error forced Brad Stoll to make a change. Stoll brought in Jaylen Paden, and Paden punched out Camilo Diaz looking to end the threat.

Augusta could not add insurance in the 8^th despite a two-out double from Montgomery, leaving Paden a three-run lead to protect in search of his first pro save. Paden got a leadoff strikeout before surrendering a towering homer to Juan Sierrra, cutting the lead to two. But Paden would not blink, striking out Nehomar Ochoa and Xavier Neyens to give the home crowd something to smile about in the season’s first game at SRP Park.

With the GreenJackets now at .500 on the season, they send Derek Vartanian to the mound tomorrow evening to secure their first winning record so far this year. He’ll be countered by Nick Potter, a hard-throwing right hander who is likely to have a piggyback arm behind him.

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