Castellani, Five Relievers Pitch Tourists To 5-3 Win

ASHEVILLE, NC-- On a rainy Monday night at McCormick Field, the Asheville Tourists and Savannah Sand Gnats played a rather clean game. In the end, the Tourists outlasted the Sand Gnats to a tune of 5-3. Ryan Castellani went 4.2 innings for the home team and struck out a season-high six batters. Savannah's Brad Weick, who defeated the Tourists last week, suffered the loss by allowing four runs in 5.1 innings.

Asheville put three runs on the board in the top of the third inning to go ahead 3-0. Forrest Wall scored on a passed ball and Max White hammered a two-run triple to centerfield. The Sand Gnats used back-to-back doubles in the fourth inning, the latter by Wuilmer Beccera, to make it 3-1.

After the Gnats loaded the bases with no outs in the top of the sixth, Logan Sawyer escaped the jam by only allowing one run to score. Asheville responded with back-to-back solo Home Runs in the bottom half. The first by White and the second came off the bat of Wes Rogers.

The visitors tacked on one in the seventh but never managed to pull any closer. Josh Michalec worked a one, two, three ninth for his eighth save of the year. Sawyer earned the win. Overall, Asheville used six pitchers throughout the evening.

The game did provide a pair of costly injuries; one to each team. In the bottom of the first inning Savannah's catcher, Tyler Moore, took a foul ball off his leg and was replaced by Tomas Nido. In the bottom of the eighth, Rogers was hit in the leg by Alberto Baldinado. Rogers limped to the clubhouse and is being further evaluated. The Asheville outfielder is second in all of Minor League Baseball with 32 stolen bases.

The homestand continues on Tuesday night with Asheville and Savannah set to take the field at 7:05pm.