Defending SAL champs Asheville Tourists advance to championship series

The Asheville Tourists defeated the Savannah Gnats 2-to-1 to advance to the South Atlantic League championship series.

Tyler Chatwood started the game for the Tourists, but he only pitched 2/3 of an inning. Chatwood allowed a bunt single, a single, and a walk in the first to load the bases with two outs. Jerad McCrummen entered the game and recorded a strikeout to end the inning.

After that, the bats were silent on both sides for a while. Sam Howard entered the game in the second inning, and he pitched six innings of shutout ball. The only threat came in the fifth inning, when he allowed a double to start the inning. In his six innings, Howard struck out six and didn't walk a batter.

The game was scoreless heading into the eighth inning. Josh Fuentes led off with a single. Yonathan Diaz bunted him to second to put him in scoring position, but it ended up not mattering where he was on the bases, as Luis Jean proceeded to hit a home run and put the Tourists up 2-to-0.

The Sand Gnats recorded three consecutive singles in the bottom of the ninth to score a run and half the Tourists' lead, but that's all they could muster.

It was a quiet day for PuRPS. Forrest Wall went hitless, though he did earn a walk. During the season, Wall had a 9.8 walk rate. Dom Nunez also picked up a single.

The Tourists, the defending champions, will face the Hickory Crawdads, the Texas Rangers' Low-A affiliate, for the SAL championship. Games one and two will be played in Hickory on Monday and Tuesday before the series moves to Asheville on Wednesday.