ROME — Despite some ninth-inning heroics from Patrick Biondi, the Savannah Sand Gnats lost their second consecutive game to the Rome Braves by a 4-3 score on Sunday afternoon at State Mutual Stadium.
The Sand Gnats (84-51) and Braves (56-83) conclude the Class A South Atlantic League regular season at 1 p.m. today in Rome. Savannah, by winning the Southern Division’s first-half title, already clinched a postseason berth.
Savannah trailed 4-1 with two outs in the ninth when Colton Plaia singled to center and Biondi followed with his second homer of the season, a fly ball to right field.
After Stefan Sabol singled to put the tying run aboard, Rome replaced reliever Matt Kimbrel with Zach Jadofsky. The Gnats replaced batter Luis Guillorme with Victor Cruzado, who was called out on strikes to end the game.
Savannah led 1-0 in the third on Sabol’s leadoff single, Guillorme’s sacrifice bunt, Jonathan Johnson’s groundout and Champ Stuart’s RBI single.
Rome scored three runs in the fourth off Savannah starter Alex Panteliodis (5-5, 4.52 ERA). Two singles sandwiched around a walk brought home the tying run. After a groundout, Reed Harper put down a sacrifice bunt that plated Alejandro Piloto from third base. Cody Livesay followed with an RBI single for 3-1.
The Braves went up 4-1 on Jacob Schrader’s triple and Joey Meneses’ sacrifice fly.
Rome starter Yean Carlos Gil (7-6, 3.35 ERA) collected the victory after yielding three hits, one run and one walk with two strikeouts in six innings.
The Gnats begin their best-of-three divisional playoffs series against the Tourists on Wednesday in Asheville, N.C. The teams are slated to play Game 2 on Friday at Grayson Stadium, with a third game, if necessary, Saturday in Savannah.
Savannah ab r h bi Rome ab r h bi
Johnson 2b 3 0 1 0 Livesay cf 5 0 2 1
Stuart cf 4 0 1 1 Lien rf 4 0 1 0
Oberste 1b 4 0 0 0 Schrader 1b 4 1 1 0
Zapata dh 4 0 0 0 Meneses dh 3 0 0 1
Rivero 3b 4 0 1 0 Franco 3b 3 1 2 0
Plaia c 3 1 1 0 Piloto lf 3 1 0 0
Biondi rf 4 1 1 2 Giardina ss 4 0 2 1
Sabol lf 3 1 2 0 McElroy ss
3 1 1 0
Guillorme ss 2 0 0 0 Harper 2b 3 0 0 0
Cruzado ph 1 0 0 0
Totals 32 3 7 3 Totals 32 4 9 4
Savannah 001 000 002 — 3
Rome 000 300 10x — 4
E—Rivero 2. DP—Savannah 1. LOB—Savannah 6, Rome 9. 3B—Schrader. HR—Biondi (2). SAC—Guillorme, Harper. SF—Meneses. SB—Johnson 2, Stuart, Livesay, Lien, McElroy. CS—Sabol.
SAVANNAH IP H R ER BB SO
Panteliodis L,5-5 7 8 4 4 3 3
Mitchell 1 1 0 0 0 0
ROME IP H R ER BB SO
Gil W,7-6 6 3 1 1 1 2
Kimbrel 2 2/3 4 2 2 2 2
Jadofsky S,1 1/3 0 0 0 0 1
WP—Panteliodis.
T—2:53. A—2,138.