Hall's heroics snap GreenJackets' skid

When Mickey Hall came up with two outs and the score tied in the bottom of the ninth he wanted a pitch on the middle-inside part of the plate - a left-handed hitter's wheelhouse.

Asheville's Jason DiAngelo obliged with a changeup and Hall drove it between the billboards and fence in right field for a walk-off home run to give the GreenJackets a 7-6 win Sunday against the Tourists.

"I was just hoping it was going to get out," said Hall, who was mobbed by his teammates when he stepped on home plate.

The win snapped the GreenJackets' three-game losing streak and gives Augusta the chance to earn a split in the series with Asheville at noon today at Lake Olmstead Stadium.

Using timely hitting for the first time this series, Augusta (5-12) rallied from a 6-3 deficit with three runs in the eighth to send the game into the ninth tied.

"For some reason I felt like he was going to go deep," Augusta manager Chad Epperson said.

When Hall made contact, Epperson knew it was gone, though he was a little surprised his premonition was right. Right-fielder Brandon Moss, who tied the game with a two-run single in the eighth, jumped off the bench with Hall's hit, but was afraid Lake Olmstead would keep the ball in the park.

"I knew he hit it hard enough ... But the ball does not travel well here," said Moss, who's seen his share of home runs die in right field.

The ball traveled far enough to hit the billboards and drop between them and the fence. It was Hall's first professional walk-off homer, and he can't remember ever hitting one as an amateur.

Moss' hit got Augusta starter Kyle Jackson off the hook for what would have been his 12th loss in the eighth. Jackson gave up four runs on six hits in five innings. He struck out five. The Tourists (10-7) tacked on two more runs on reliever Milton Tavarez in the top of the eighth.

Hall started Augusta's rally in the eighth inning with a leadoff single. Zach Borowiak and Ian Cronkhite followed with singles and Kevin Jordan scored Hall with a sacrifice fly. Dirimo Chavez grounded out to reliever Manuel Corpas for the second out to bring up Moss.

Corpas threw three straight inside pitches for a 3-0 count on Moss, but with runners at second and third and his best hitter up, Epperson gave Moss the green light to swing away. Corpas jammed Moss, but the left-hander got enough bat on the ball for it drop into shallow left field. Epperson was sending Borowiak and Cronkhite all the way, in what he called a "do or die" situation. Both scored without a play at the plate to tie the game at 6-6.

"It got the job done," Moss said. "I'm not going to complain with a two-run single."

Reach Kristy Shonka at (706) 823-3216 or kristy.shonka@augustachronicle.com.