The Charleston RiverDogs earned a dominant 9-2 win in their series open against the Augusta GreenJackets in front of 3,422 fans at Joseph P. Riley, Jr. Park.
After Augusta took an early 1-0 lead, the RiverDogs responded in the bottom of the second. With two outs, JD Martinez lined an RBI single to left to even the score. The next hitter was Angel Mateo who roped a two-run homer to left that pushed Charleston ahead 3-1.
Starter Aidan Haugh was tremendous, delivering 5.1 innings of one-run ball while fanning seven hitters. Jacob Hartlaub followed with 1.2 scoreless frames in relief.
The RiverDogs rallied for more in the bottom of the fifth when Brendan Summerhill lined an RBI double to left, Alberth Palma sent a sacrifice to right and Cooper Flemming lined an RBI double to right to make it 6-1.
In the bottom of the eighth, blew the game open when Tom Poole blasted a three-run shot to right that made it 9-1.
Despite a late Augusta rally in the ninth, Dylan Lesko limited the damage to one run to slam the door on the 9-2 win.
With the win, the RiverDogs moved to 40-30 and 3-1 in the second half, while Augusta fell to 38-32, and 3-1 in the second half. The two return to The Joe tomorrow for game two of the series with first pitch slated for 7:05 p.m. Coverage begins at 6:50 on the RiverDogs Broadcast Network.
Ballpark Fun:
Dog Day Tuesday brought plenty of four-legged fun to The Joe.
While spaniels were the stars of the night, dogs of all breeds showed up and showed out alongside their owners. The first 500 fans through the gates received custom RiverSpaniel t-shirts, and before long, the shirts could be spotted all around the ballpark.
The celebration wasn't limited to the pups. With the Fourth of July right around the corner, red, white, and blue decorations filled the stadium, kicking off a week of Independence Day festivities at The Joe. After a warm start to the evening, the weather settled in perfectly for a night of baseball, making it a paws-itively great Tuesday at the ballpark.