GreenJackets Walk Off Hillcats, Fall Short of Playoffs

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GreenJackets Walk Off Hillcats, Fall Short of Playoffs

Augusta’s Come from Behind Win Ends First Half on High Note Despite Sour Standings

NORTH AUGUSTA, SC: The GreenJackets came back from being down to their final strike to defeat the Lynchburg Hillcats 3-2 in 10 innings last night, but a Columbia victory in Zebulon kept the GreenJackets out of the first half playoffs by one game.

Augusta entered the day needing a win over league-best Lynchburg, and the Fireflies to lose to a Carolina Mudcats squad that had dropped 9 of their last 11. Knowing the stakes, the GreenJackets sent Opening Day starter Owen Hackman to the hill, and Hackman met the moment immediately. The righty retired the first eighteen batters faced, giving his offense ample opportunity to get going.

To Hackman’s dismay, the GreenJacket hitters could not muster a run through six either, held in check by the combination of Jacob Zibin and Sean Matson. Augusta totaled five hits in the first six innings, but left six men aboard, falling just shy of the big hit time and again.

Hackman’s magic would run out in the beginning of the 7th, as Tommy Hawke began the frame with a leadoff double that ended Hackman’s bid for perfection. The shutout would evaporate one batter later, as Nick Mitchell sliced one back up the middle to score Hawke and put the Hillcats in front. Hackman’s night would end one out later, but Lynchburg would charge one more run to his ledger by scoring Mitchell on an RBI single from Bennett Thompson, who ambushed the first pitch from reliever David Rodriguez.

The Hillcats kept control after taking the lead, as Matson closed out his night with a 1-2-3 7th, a line matched identically by Luis Flores in the 8th as he came on for a six-out save. Rodriguez kept Lynchburg’s offense at bay through two full frames, and gave Augusta a chance entering the bottom of the 9th.

The final chance began fortuitously, as a walk and E6 put the tying runs on with no one out. Flores punched out Douglas Glod, but ceded a bloop single to Elio Campos to load the bases. Roiber Niazoa rolled a sharp grounder to 3rd, but beat out the double play throw, keeping the inning alive and scoring the team’s first run. Down to his final out, catcher Colin Burgess fell behind 0-2 before ripping a liner into left field to tie the game and force extras.

Rodriguez handled the Hillcats in the top of the 10th, retiring the side in order and stranding the automatic runner on base, punctuating the inning with a big strikeout of Robert Lopez that led to Lopez’s ejection after he ferociously argued the strike call. Isaiah Drake led off the bottom half, and needed just three pitches to win it, cracking a liner to left field to score Owen Carey and end the first half on the highest of notes.

The Augusta excitement would be somewhat short-lived, as Columbia and Carolina entered a rain delay in the top of the 8th with the Fireflies in front, and would not resume play. The rain-shortened victory was called about 15 minutes after the GreenJackets’ win, and gave Columbia their first playoff bid since moving to the state capital.

The quest for a playoff chase now restarts for the GreenJackets, as tonight’s 7:05 start kicks off the season’s second half, and resets all records to 0-0. The best record from here to the season’s end will gain a playoff opportunity, which would give Augusta a chance for redemption against the Fireflies come September.

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