ZEBULON – The Carolina Mudcats scored five times using a pair of home runs to race past the Augusta GreenJackets 9-4 on Wednesday night at Five County Stadium.
Carolina (69-45 overall, 28-21 second half) broke open a tie game in the sixth inning with five unearned runs. Willmer De La Cruz misplayed ball in right field that permitted Eric Bitonti to score and Filippo Di Turi to race to third base after giving the Mudcats 5-4 lead, the flood gates would open. Luis Castillo and Reece Walling each blasted two-run home runs to right field and when the dust settled, Carolina had a 9-4 advantage.
That lead was more than enough for Morris Austin (W, 9-4) who worked 2.1 scoreless innings to tie for the Carolina League lead in victories.
Augusta (40-72 overall, 13-34 second half) trailed 3-0 early in the game but came back to knot the game with three runs in the third. The GreenJackets would take a short-lived 4-3 advantage in the fifth on a two-out RBI single from Will Verdung.
The series continues Thursday night at Five County Stadium when the Mudcats and GreenJackets collide with first pitch set for 6:30 p.m.
