ZEBULON, N.C. — On a cold, windy night at Five County Stadium, the Augusta GreenJackets (14-12) won a back-and-forth fifth game of the series against the Carolina Mudcats (14-12), 6-5.
The GreenJackets scored in the first inning for the second consecutive game as Brandol Mezquita plated home Geraldo Quintero on a ground-ball in the infield to make it 1-0 Augusta.
That score would hold until the fourth inning when Arbert Cipion sent a two-run homer over the wall in right field to give the Mudcats their first lead at 2-1.
They’d add on another run an inning later on an RBI single by Eduardo Rodriguez to up the lead to 3-1.
Augusta would not let Carolina run away from them as they counterpunched in the sixth inning with Stephen Paolini bringing home Brandol Mezquita to pull the GreenJackets with one at 3-2.
In the seventh, the GreenJackets catapulted themselves back into the lead on a go-ahead two-run triple by Geraldo Quintero to make it a 4-3 GreenJackets lead. They tacked on another run via a sacrifice from Cal Conley to get Quintero home easily, advancing the lead to 5-3.
The Mudcats would roar back in the bottom half of the innings as a two-RBI single by Alberis Ferrer evened the score, but Roldy Muñoz would halt the damage there to take the game into the eighth inning tied at five. Each team went down in order in the eighth and after Augusta failed to score in the top of ninth, the Mudcats produced a major threat in attempt to win the game by loading up the bases with two outs for Jeferson Quero against Rob Griswold, and with the game on the line, Griswold got Quero to roll out to third to send the game to extra innings.
In the tenth inning, Augusta got on the board on a long single off the wall by Rusber Estrada to score Cal Conley, giving the GreenJacket catcher his first three-hit game as a member of the team, and a 6-5 edge.
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That’s all Augusta would score in the top of the inning, turning the pressure back to Griswold, tasked to keep Carolina off the board to secure the win. And the GreenJackets’ reliever would rise to the occasion by getting all three batters he faced in order to lock down the 6-5 win for Augusta in ten innings.
Rob Griswold earned his second victory of the season while Karlos Morales took the loss for the Mudcats.
The first extra innings win of the season came on the heels of some great offensive performances. Rusber Estrada collected three hits with a double and two singles plus his go-ahead RBI in the tenth. Geraldo Quintero reached three times and extended his current hit-streak to seven games, with his signature knock coming on his two-RBI triple in the seventh inning to put Augusta ahead. Cal Conley singled twice and produced an RBI with a sacrifice fly in the seventh. In addition, the Augusta infielder scored the winning run in the tenth inning.
The roadtrip to Zebulon concludes on Mother’s Day afternoon with Luis Vargas taking the hill for the GreenJackets facing Brannon Jordan for the Mudcats. Augusta can earn a series split with a victory as the first pitch comes from Five County Stadium at 1 p.m.
The third homestand of the season for the Augusta GreenJackets starts off on Tuesday, May 10 against their I-20 rivals the Columbia Fireflies.
