KANNAPOLIS, N.C.: The Augusta GreenJackets (31-30) earned their fourth win in a row on Wednesday night with an extra innings victory over the Kannapolis Cannon Ballers (30-32) by a score of 3-2 in ten innings.
Augusta started the night playing from behind early as Tim Elko hit a two-run homer in the first inning to give the Cannon Ballers a 2-0 lead.
That lead would be cut in half in the second inning as Francisco Floyd scored David McCabe on an infield single to make it a 2-1 game after two.
That’s when the pitching took over for each side as both squads were locked down offensively for the next several innings.
The GreenJackets bullpen dominated the night led by James Acuna who entered for starter Landon Harper with two in the third, as he’d go on to deal 3.1 perfect innings, retiring all 13 batters he faced with 4 strikeouts to match his season-high. Juan Mateo relieved him in the seventh and tossed two scoreless frames to send the game to the ninth still 2-1.
That’s when the GreenJackets’ bats cracked the code against Kannapolis as they tied the game in the ninth on a triple by Mahki Backstrom to straightaway center, scoring E.J. Exposito from first to even the game at two. The go-ahead run in Backstrom would not score as Augusta hit into a tough-luck double play off the bat of Antonio Barranca to end the inning.
In the bottom of the ninth, Estarlin Rodriguez retired the side in order to force extras.
Newcomer Noah Williams came through with the heroics for the GreenJackets in extra innings as the 18th-round draft pick doubled to left, scoring Antonio Barranca from second to give Augusta their first lead of the night at 3-2 on Williams’ third hit of the game.
Estarlin Rodriguez was tasked with the bottom of the tenth on the mound and he finished the job by putting down the Cannon Ballers 1-2-3 with a pair of strikeouts and a groundout to snatch a victory away from Kannapolis as they defeated them 3-2 in ten innings.
Estarlin Rodriguez (1-2) earned his first winning decision of the season with Kannapolis reliever, Adisyn Coffey (4-3) taking the loss.
Noah Williams showed out in his debut as the 18-year-old had three hits in his first game with two singles and the go-ahead RBI double in the tenth inning. Mahki Backstrom provided two more hits, including his triple in the ninth that tied the game at two. The Augusta bullpen also delivered a top-notch performance as James Acuna. Juan Mateo and Estarlin Rodriguez combined for 7.1 no-hit innings with seven strikeouts as the Cannon Ballers had just two base runners against them on a pair of walks.
The third game of the series is on Thursday night as the GreenJackets go for a fifth straight win with Landon Leach on the mound against Dylan Burnes for Kannapolis with first pitch at 7:00 p.m.
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