Riverdogs Sweep Braves

Rome, GA – The Rome Braves dropped two to the Charleston Riverdogs Saturday night at State Mutual Stadium 5-4 and 13-0. It was Rome’s third loss in as many games to begin the season.

Game one started well for the Braves taking a 2-0 lead in the first inning on a sacrifice fly RBI by Jason Heyward and a solo home run by Cody Johnson. Charleston grabbed the lead in the fourth highlighted by an RBI single from Bradley Suttle and sacrifice fly RBI’s from Wady Rufino and Austin Romine giving the Riverdogs the 3-2 lead. Rome tied the game in the sixth on a Yohan Silva home run (1) but Charleston took the lead in the seventh scoring two runs for the 5-3 advantage. Rome came off the deck in the bottom of the seventh scoring two runs thanks to Charleston fielding errors but it wasn’t enough as the Riverdogs held on for the 5-4 win. Jason Stephens earns the victory in relief (1-0) and Jonathan Ortiz gets the save (1) while Chad Rodgers picks up his first loss (0-1).

The Braves and Riverdogs were both scoreless during the first four innings of game two before the roof caved in on the Braves. Eleven consecutive Charleston hitters reached base in the fifth and when the smoke had cleared, the Riverdogs found themselves with a 9-0 lead. Charleston added four insurance runs to cruise to the 13-0 win. Jesse Hoover earns the victory (1-0) and Rome starter Eric Barrett gets tagged with the loss despite giving up just one earned run in four innings and striking out four.

Rome and Charleston conclude their series tomorrow afternoon at two. For ticket information, contact the Rome Braves at 706-378-5144 or log onto www.romebraves.com.