RiverDogs Resilient in 9-6 Win over Augusta

The Augusta GreenJackets would not go away, but the Charleston RiverDogs fought off every rally from the home team to secure a 9-6 victory at SRP Park on Wednesday night. The RiverDogs took advantage of 11 walks from Augusta pitchers to even the series.

The RiverDogs (2-3, 29-41) used some early offense to grab their first lead of the series. Woo Shin took a walk to open the second inning and advanced into scoring position on a fielder’s choice groundball from Raudelis Martinez. Bryan Broecker drove him in with a single down the right field line and the RiverDogs had a quick 1-0 lead.

The lead grew in the fourth inning thanks to some wildness from Augusta (2-3, 29-41) starter Jeremy Reyes. The right-hander walked four batters in the frame, including one with the bases loaded to make it 3-0. A run scored earlier in the inning on a wild pitch with a runner at third.

Augusta bounced back with a pair of runs in the bottom of the same inning against Drew Dowd. Luis Sanchez opened the frame with a double to left field and advanced to third on a wild pitch with one out. Kade Kern worked a walk to put runners on the corners. Dowd twice threw errantly trying to pick Kern off at third base, the first one leading to the runner at third scoring the first run of the frame. The second allowed Kern to race to third and score on a sacrifice fly by Harry Owen.

Charleston appeared to take a big step toward victory in the middle part of the game. RBI doubles from Adrian Santana and Shin during the fifth inning pushed the margin to 5-2. Broecker came through again with two outs in the top of the seventh, lining a two-run single to center to widen the gap to 7-2.

Cade Halemanu entered for his first appearance with the RiverDogs this season in the bottom half. A pair of singles put two men on base with two outs for nine-hitter Leiker Figueroa. The second baseman came through with a two-run single to close the deficit to 7-3. Isaiah Drake followed with an infield hit and Sanchez rolled another single through the right side. Figueroa tried to score on the hit and jarred the ball free from Martinez, the catcher, as he applied the tag, allowing two runs to score. Suddenly, the lead was just one.

However, Halemanu escaped further damage that inning and the offense added some insurance in the top of the ninth. Ricardo Gonzales took over the team lead in RBI with a run-producing single to push the lead to 8-6. Odalys Peguero worked a bases loaded walk in the next at-bat to put the final run on the board.

Broecker and Gonzalez had two hits each with Broecker driving in a season-high three runs. Sanchez put together a three-hit night for the second straight game to lead Augusta. Both clubs finished with nine hits.

Dowd earned the win by allowing two runs, one earned, in 6.0 strong innings on the mound. He struck out five. Halemanu was charged with four runs, three of them earned, in his lone inning. Adam Boucher grabbed his second save of the season with 2.0 perfect innings to close the game.

The two sides will congregate again at SRP Park for game three on Thursday night. RHP Gary Gill Hill (2-0, 2.11) will look to continue his dominant season on the mound for the RiverDogs. Meanwhile, RHP Didier Fuentes (2-3, 2.60) will counter for the GreenJackets. First pitch is slated for 7:05 p.m.