By: RiverDogs Media
The Augusta GreenJackets took the lead just three batters into Saturday night’s game at Joseph P. Riley, Jr. Park, but never scored again as the Charleston RiverDogs won their fifth in a row by a final score of 5-1. In front of 4,319 fans, Carson Williams tallied a double and a triple, increasing his league-leading extra-base hit total to 20.
Neraldo Catalina, working as the RiverDogs opener, hit Caleb Durbin with the second pitch of the game. A wild pitch quickly pushed him to second base and allowed him to score on Geraldo Quintero’s RBI single to center field. From that point forward, the GreenJackets (20-18) registered just four more hits and never scored again. Catalina went 2.0 innings total, allowing the lone run and striking out three. Austin Vernon earned the win and lowered his ERA to 1.26 with 4.0 scoreless innings out of the bullpen. The save belonged to Jack Snyder after the right-hander worked the final 3.0 innings of the contest, striking out a pair.
As they have done all week long, the RiverDogs (26-12) bounced back immediately to grab a lead of their own in the bottom of the inning. Shane Sasaki singled as the first batter to face AJ Smith-Shawver and then stole second base to move into scoring position. The game would become tied on an RBI triple from Carson Williams in the very next at-bat. A fielder’s choice groundball to first by Abiezel Ramirez with the bases loaded later in the inning made it 2-1 in favor of the home team.
Bobby Seymour launched his fourth home run of the season to open the third inning, making it 3-1. In the sixth, Michael Berglund led off with a walk and Jelfry Marte followed with a single. With one out, Williams was hit by a pitch to load the bases. Rolddy Munoz struck out Dru Baker, but Seymour and Freddvil Chevez worked back-to-back walks that forced in the final two runs of the game.
Williams two-hit effort was matched by Marte who was 2-3 with a walk. Sasaki is now 26-26 in stolen bases on the season, ranking third in Minor League Baseball.
Ballpark Fun
The same teams meet in the series finale on Sunday evening at 5:05 p.m. RHP Ben Peoples (1-1, 3.33) will make his second start of the series for the RiverDogs. Meanwhile, RHP JJ Niekro (3-0, 2.63) will make his first start of the campaign for Augusta.
Single-game tickets are available for all RiverDogs home games at riverdogs.com. RiverDogs season tickets, flexible ticket plans, and group tickets, including options to the Segra Club at Riley Park, are available at riverdogs.com/tickets or by contacting the RiverDogs front office at 843-577-3647 (DOGS).
