Asheville 5, Savannah 4

Tom Murphy smacked a two-run home run in the seventh inning as Asheville fought back from its third deficit of the night to defeat the Savannah Sand Gnats 5-4 Monday night.

Murphy connected on his 18th homer of the season.

Savannah (59-43, 16-17 second half) has lost two games in a row after reeling off a streak of six wins in seven games.

This one could have been different but the Gnats left 12 on base and were just 1 for 12 with runners in scoring position.

Savannah took a 2-0 lead in the third inning when Brandon Nimmo scored on a passed ball just before Stefan Sabol belted his eight home run of the season.

The Tourists answered in the bottom of the third when Ben Waldrip scored on a groundout and Max White came around on Derek Jones’ single.

The Sand Gnats forged ahead in the fifth when Hilton Head native Brian Harrison, who joined the team from St. Lucie on Sunday, walked with the bases loaded to make it 3-2.

But resilient Asheville knotted the game in the bottom of the inning when Jones doubled Matt Wessinger to third where he scored on Rosell Herrera’s groundout.

In the seventh, Savannah manufactured the go-ahead run with two outs. Maikis De La Cruz led off with a single but two batters lter he was still standing on first base when Harrison was hit by a pitch. The runners moved up on a balk and De La Cruz scored when third baseman Matt Argyropoulos booted a ball hit by Albert Cordero.

But that just set the stage for Murphy’s heroics.

The teams continue their three-game series tonight at 7:05.

Key Stats

Brandon Nimmo: 1-for-5, 1 2B, 1 R

Stefan Sabol: 1-for-4, 1 HR, 1 RBI, 1 R

Eudy Pina: 2-for-5, 1 2B

Jake Kuebler: 5.0 IP, 5 H, 1 BB, 3 R, 2 ER, 3 K

Shawn Teufel: 1.0 IP, 0 H, 1 BB, 0 ER, 2 K

(Team Report)