Bats, Bullpen Go to Work in 8-2 Win over Augusta

AUGUSTA-- The Asheville Tourists won for the fourth time in their last five games with an 8-2 victory over the Augusta GreenJackets on Saturday night. The Tourists pounded out 14 hits and overcame an early 2-0 deficit for their second straight decisive victory over Augusta.
Of the Tourists 14 hits, seven went for extra-bases. That is a rarity at pitcher friendly Lake Olmstead Stadium but it just showed how locked in the hitters were. Asheville's offense was not the only bright spot. Breiling Eusebio earned his first win of the season by working five innings and the Tourists bullpen tossed four innings of hitless baseball.

Augusta's Skyler Ewing gave the home team a 2-0 lead with a two-run Home Run off Eusebio in the first inning. The Tourists lefty settled down after the blast and kept Augusta scoreless over his next four frames.
Asheville figured out the opposing pitcher, Domenic Mazza, in the middle innings. Bobby Wernes launched a solo Home Run to put the Tourists on the board in the fourth. The next inning, Asheville pounded out four runs on five straight hits which included an RBI single from Manny Melendez, a two-run single from Jose Gomez, and an RBI double by Willie Abreu.
The Tourists tacked on two more runs in the seventh. Abreu and Wernes picked up back-to-back RBI base hits, both with two outs. Jacob Bosiokovic added a sacrifice fly in the eighth to cap the scoring.
Bryan Baker, Austin Moore, and Reid Humphreys combined to toss the bullpen's four shutout innings. Every player in Asheville's lineup finished with at least one hit and for the third straight game the Tourists stole at least three bases.
Sunday afternoon will feature the same two teams in action for game three of the scheduled four game set. The first pitch is slated for 5:05pm.