Southisene Homers as Augusta Falls on Education Day
North Augusta, SC: Tate Southisene picked up three RBIs including his fifth homer of the year, but the offense came up just short overall as Augusta conceded its third straight one-run loss in an early 5-4 defeat against the Charleston RiverDogs Wednesday afternoon.
In front of a rambunctious crowd of nearly 4,800 students, the GreenJackets (15-14) went blow for blow with the RiverDogs, as they overcame a second straight slow start offensively to fight until the final out. Charleston (18-11) took an early lead for the second day in a row, but ended up playing from behind themselves in the back half of the game.
Derek Vartanian was solid for a career-high six innings, totaling seven strikeouts without a walk in his first career quality start. Vartanian's lone blemishes came in the third inning, when doubles from Derek Datil and Caden Bodine put the RiverDogs on the board before an RBI groundout from Cooper Flemming doubled the lead. Vartanian retired the last 11 batters he faced, and kept Augusta in the game consistently.
Charleston starter Ethan Storm worked four hitless innings to start the day, but just like last night, the GreenJacket batters came alive in the bottom of the fifth. Junior Garcia worked a leadoff walk, and took second on a single from Cooper McMurray. Storm induced a double play that looked like it would curtail the rally, but John Estevez roped a single back up the middle in his first game of the year to put the Jackets on the board. One batter later, Tate Southisene demolished a hanging slider off of the apartment building in left for his fifth home run of the year, and Augusta's first lead of the day.
The Jackets held the lead through six, but Charleston's pesky offense refused to quit, and came to life once Vartanian departed. The RiverDogs got to Adiel Melendez in his first inning of relief, as an RBI single from Yirer Garcia tied the game. Melendez escaped with the tie in the seventh, but could not do so in the eighth, as Daniel Pierce hooked a double down the left field line to score two and put the Dogs back ahead with six outs to go.
The GreenJackets did not quit, to their credit, and fought all the way to the final out against closer Mason Nichols. Estevez poked a two-out single, his third hit of the day, and then took second on an error. Southisene followed right behind, and barreled a base hit back up the middle to put the tying run on and bring Augusta back within one. Alex Lodise took the bat representing the winning run, but got jammed on the first pitch he saw, and popped up to end the game and allow the RiverDogs to even the series.
Tomorrow's contest starts at a more reasonable hour, with first pitch scheduled for 7:05 on a Thursday night at SRP Park. Landon Beidelschies will start for Augusta, while Charleston counters with Aidan Haugh, with both men looking to get back on track after rocky Aprils.