Braves Outlast RiverDogs

Rome, GA -The Rome Braves beat the Charleston, South Carolina RiverDogs 9-7 Saturday night at State Mutual Stadium in front of a crowd of 5,026.

The Braves jumped out to a 4-0 lead in the second inning. Scott Schade singled to left and moved to second on a Diory Hernandez base hit. Mike Hanson followed with an infield single to load the bases. Dean White then hit into a fielder's choice scoring Schade and moving Hernandez to third. Ardley Jansen's double to left field scored Hernandez and White. Jansen advanced to third on a Martin Prado base hit and scored on an error by Charleston second baseman Josh Touchstone.

Rome increased their lead to 6-0 in the fifth inning after Matt Esquivel singled and scored on a monster homerun off the bat of Miguel Bernard.

Charleston posted three runs in the sixth as Nate Dion singled and proceeded to steal second. Josh Touchstone's infield hit moved Dion to third and Jason Pridie doubled to left field scoring Dion and Touchstone. Pridie then scored on a fielding error by Rome third baseman Dean White to make the score 6-3.

The Braves added three runs in the eighth inning thanks to a bases clearing double by Martin Prado.

The RiverDogs staged a comeback in the ninth inning scoring four runs, but it proved to be too little, too late.

Bryan Digby earns the win for Rome (5-5) while Aaron Gangi takes the loss for Charleston (2-4). Jose Ascanio picks up the save for the Braves (6). Digby no hit the Riverdogs for 5.1 innings before a Nate Dion single.

Rome and Charleston meet for the rubber-game of the series Sunday afternoon at 2 at State Mutual Stadium. Tickets are available by calling the Rome Braves ticket office at (706) 378-5144.