SAVANNAH, Ga. — Losing a playoff series is painful enough. Giving one away on mistakes and missed opportunities stung even more Saturday night in the Augusta GreenJackets 3-1 series-deciding loss in Savannah.
The box score showed only one Augusta error at the end of the night. But other mistakes proved costly.
With one out and Savannah runners on the corners in the second, starter Taylor Rogers bounced the throw to second base, spoiling the potential for an inning-ending double play and allowing a run to score.
Joel Weeks, who moved from third base to first for Game 3, bobbled a high-chopping grounder to first in the fourth inning that allowed another Savannah unearned run.
The two-run swing on the two plays - and Augusta’s lack of offense - were the deciding factors in ending the GreenJackets season and sending the Sand Gnats to Greensboro, N.C. for a five-game league championship series with the Grasshoppers.
“That made the difference. We had a lot of chances from the first inning on and that came back to haunt us again,” GreenJackets manager Lipso Nava said. “This is a short series and that maginfies every error. They have to learn to keep working and eliminate the errors.”
The big hits late in the series came from Savannah leadoff hitter Darrell Ceciliani, who went 6 for 7 over the final two games. He led off the bottom of the first Saturday with a triple to the gap in right-center field and scored on a sacrifice fly from Tovar Wilfredo for an early 1-0 lead.
Ceciliani later reached on an infield single, walked and got to first on a Weeks’ fourth-inning error that plated Joe Bonfe.
Savannah starter Erik Goeddel (1-0) got the win on five shutout innings. He held the GreenJackets to three hits and three walks and struck out four.
Rogers (0-1) took the loss by allowing three extra base hits over the first two innings. He settled down to retired seven of the last eight batters he faced, allowing three runs, two earned, on six hits and two walks.
Adam Duvall drove in Augusta’s lone run on a two-out single in the eighth. The GreenJackets Nos. 5-9 hitters combined to go 0 for 19.
Sand Gnats 3, GreenJackets 1
PLAY OF THE GAME: Darrell Ceciliani’s triple and Rafael Fernandez’s double in the first inning set the tone early and gave Savannah a 1-0 lead.
STAR OF THE GAME: After going 4 for 4 in Game 2, Ceciliani reached base on all four trips to the plate again in Game 3.
NEXT: South Atlantic League Championship Series, Game 1, Savannah Sand Gnats at Greensboro Grasshoppers, Monday, 7 p.m.
The Augusta Chronicle ©2012. All Rights Reserved.
