SAVANNAH - Losing a playoff series is painful enough. Giving one away on mistakes and missed opportunities stung even more tonight 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, starting pitcher 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 in the starting lineup 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."
That work will have to come in the offseason after Augusta managed just five hits and one unearned run off Savannah. The league's top-ranked pitching staff won the series for the Sand Gnats, who fell behind with a Game 1 loss in Augusta but swept the two games in Savannah.
"I thought we did a good job matching them, especially in the last two games and that's how it all went down, pitching," Savannah manager Ryan Ellis said. "I said this before - fundamental baseball. It all comes down to fundamentals. In a playoff series, especially a short playoff series, those things are really enhanced if you don't do them well. I thought we did a good job with our fundamentals and ultimately we were able to get a hit here and there and capitalize on mistakes."
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 walked, reached on an infield single, and got to first on a Weeks' fourth-inning error that plated Joe Bonfe.
"He catapulted us into an early start tonight with that leadoff triple," Ellis said. "Darrell struggled a few times this year, and it's a testament to him that he was able to calm himself down a little bit, get the pitches to hit and he did a good job."
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.
The Sand Gnats bullpen turned in a strong effort for the second night in a row. Three relievers combined to allow one unearned run on two hits over the final two innings, capped by Ronny Morla's perfect ninth for his first postseason save.
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. But in a pattern repeated from the regular season, Rogers left after six innings with no run support.
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.
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