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Peanuts pay back Foxhounds

• Following a 17-6 romp by the Foxhounds during Game 1 of their series against the Peanuts, South Georgia responds Tuesday with a win.

Cam Huffman
Aiken Standard

AIKEN, S.C. — Aiken starting pitcher Anthony Telford and South Georgia hurler Dumas Garcia refused to go down with a loss in Tuesday night’s South Coast League showdown, so the game had to be decided by the bullpens.

With the game tied, 2-2, after seven innings, Aiken reliever Brian Grijalva gave up a one-out home run to South Georgia’s Mike Caruso, the first long ball of the infielder’s Peanuts career, to put the visitors ahead, 3-2, and the left-hander’s blast eventually proved to be a game winner.

The dramatic Peanuts victory evened the series at 1-1 after Aiken (25-27, 3-4 second half) took the opener, 17-6, on Monday.

South Georgia (38-12, 5-1), meanwhile, continued its dominance of the new league after winning the first-half crown.

“They got some key hits at the end,” Aiken manager Chris Bando said. “Their bullpen shut us down, and our bullpen didn’t shut them down. That’s what it came down to.”

The game provided few offensive fireworks in the early going, as the scoreboard stayed blank through 3 1/2 innings.

Aiken drew blood in the first inning, and the ’Hounds  still were holding onto that 1-0 advantage after six, when the 41-year-old Telford gave way to his bullpen and reliever David Martinez.

The Peanuts’ Curtis Goodwin started things off with a single off Martinez’s leg. A sacrifice bunt moved Goodwin to second, but Johnny Washington flew out to center for the second out, giving Aiken fans hope.

Steve Butler entered as a pinch hitter for South Georgia with a chance to be the hero, and he did not miss his opportunity. His first professional home run narrowly cleared the right field wall, but it was enough to give South Georgia a 2-1 lead.

Aiken did not stay behind for long, as Francis Finnerty led off the bottom of the seventh with a pinch-hit double to center field, and he scored two batters later when Garth McKinney found a double of his own to bring his teammate home and tie the game.

McKinney moved to third with only one out when he stole third on pitcher Ja Jones, but he was stranded 90 feet away when Hunt struck out and Key flew to left to end the frame and leave the two teams even.

Another unlikely hero struck for the Peanuts in the top of the eighth, when Caruso, who finished third in the American League Rookie of the Year voting in 1998 with the White Sox but has never been known as a power hitter, smacked a line drive over the right field fence to score South Georgia’s third and final run of the game.

Aiken led off both the eighth and ninth innings with singles, but each time the runner was erased as a result of a baserunning blunder, and the Peanuts held on to score the victory.

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