Meisner Near-Perfect on Friday
Greenville, SC - Sand Gnats starter RHP Casey Meisner (2-1, 1.78) was perfect for 6.1 innings on Friday. Meisner's near-perfecto propelled the Gnats to their first sweep of the season against the Greenville Drive (15-13), 5-1.
The Sand Gnats (11-16) have now won four straight games, their only streak this season.
The Gnats took the lead with three runs in the third. DH Jon Leroux plated both Vicente Lupo and Luis Guillorme with a single to center. Wuilmer Becerra came up next and scored John Mora on a line drive to right.
In the fourth, Tomas Nido led off the inning with an infield single and was later scored by a ground out from Guillorme.
Meisner struck out the side in the bottom of the fifth and everyone started looking at the zeros on the scoreboard. The Cypress, Texas native faced the minimum 19 through 6.1 innings, when 1B Cisco Tellez ripped a single to right field, effectively ending the perfecto. Tellez scored the lone run for the Drive later that inning. Meisner tied a career-high with seven innings and topped his season-high with nine strikeouts.
Not to be out done, Becerra tried to make history of his own. The right fielder fell a double shy of the cycle and was on deck when the Gnats last out was made.
Meisner earned the victory and LHP Ben Griset made his Sand Gnats debut with two shutout innings.
The Gnats will head to Hickory to face the Crawdads tomorrow at 6:00 PM. The Sand Gnats will send RHP - Josh Prevost (0-4, 6.38) to the hill, while Hickory with start LHP - Brett Martin (2-0, 2.33) in the series opener. The Sand Gnats will return home on May 14th to start a seven-game home stand against Lexington and Augusta.