Trey Lipscomb made a big splash in his FredNat debut, smacking a three-run home run off the left field foul pole, Will Frizzell went deep twice, but it was Augusta with a 13-11 road win in a wild, back-and-forth series opener at Virginia Credit Union Stadium.
The GreenJackets wasted no time getting to the sticks as Stephen Paolini hit a leadoff homer off Bryan Caceres, the first of four runs in the 1st inning for Augusta. Justin Janas and E.J. Exposito also drove in runs in the frame for Augusta, and both were making their GreenJacket debuts after being drafted in 2022.