KANNAPOLIS, NC: For the first time since August of 2022, the Augusta GreenJackets have swept a six-game series, using a 5-4 win this afternoon to sweep the Kannapolis Cannon Ballers this week.
For the second straight evening, the early innings favored the two starting pitchers, as Justin Sinibaldi and Jacob Shafer traded zeroes through three frames.
It was not until the bottom of the fourth that the dam was broken, as Colby Shelton turned on a two-out slider from Shafer and muscled it over the right field wall, picking up his first professional home run and putting the Ballers up 2-0.
Augusta responded quickly, chasing Sinibaldi the very next inning and cutting the lead in half. Dallas Macias reached on a fielder’s choice, followed by a bloop single from Eric Hartman.
John Gil, who has torn the cover off the ball all month, stayed hot by lacing a double to right-center field, scoring Macias for the game’s first run. Augusta would look to tie the game, but reliever Liam Paddack struck out two to strand runners aboard.
The GreenJackets broke through in the top of the 6th, after Albert Rivas relieved Shafer and stranded two with a strikeout. Nick Montgomery and Joe Olsavsky both hit one-out singles off of Paddack, before Macias rolled into another fielder’s choice. With two outs,
Paddack appeared on the precipice of another zero, but Hartman punched one the other way for a game-tying single.
With the score equalized at two, Kannapolis summoned Jake Peppers from the bullpen, hoping he could strand the go-ahead run at third.
Peppers got to a two-strike count on Gil, but John won the battle and roped another double, this one to the left field corner to score two and put the Jackets in front. Cody Miller followed with an RBI single to score Gil, and the Jackets led 5-2.
The bullpen stayed dominant late, as Drew Christo went 1-2-3 through the 6th before Logan Forsythe retired five straight in the 7th and 8th.
Kade Woods took the mound with two outs in the 8th and got the final out of the inning, but did run into some difficulty in the final frame.
Woods allowed a two-out walk to Shelton in the bottom of the 9th, then grooved a fastball to Arxy Hernandez, who deposited it onto the berm behind left field for his first home run of the season.
Now within a run, the Ballers’ bench showed life for the first time since the early goings, but Woods got Grant Magill to roll over to third, securing his first save of his career.
The GreenJackets have swept an opponent for the first time in over three years, and continue to extend the year’s longest win streak.
Augusta has now won eight in a row, the most by the team since 2018, when they were still a Giants affiliate. Riding high, and still in playoff contention, the Jackets now return home to host the Columbia Fireflies for the final time this season.
