SAL1 Greenville Drive

Drive Go Down 6-5 to Suns in 10 Innings

Published on July 8, 2010 under South Atlantic League (SAL1)
Greenville Drive News Release


Greenville, SC - Steven Souza hit a two-run home run in the top of the tenth inning off of fellow all-star Dennis Neuman (0-1), and a Greenville rally fell short in the bottom of the tenth to give the Hagerstown Suns (42-43, 6-9) a 6-5 victory over the Drive (46-39, 10-5).

Francisco Soriano walked ahead of Souza, who hit his 11th home run of the year. After Neuman quickly got out of the inning, Michael Almanzar reached on an error, and later scored on an RBI-double by Vladimir Frias. However, Jeremy Hazelbaker struck out to end the game, giving Dean Weaver his 12th save of the year.

The Drive left eleven men on base, including nine in scoring position.

Greenville jumped out to an early lead led when Hazelbaker singled off of Suns' starter Daniel Rosenbaum to jumpstart the Drive offense. After consecutive walks, Dan Butler grounded into a double play, scoring Hazelbaker on the play.

The Drive added to their lead in the bottom of the third. Consecutive triples by Hazelbaker and Derrik Gibson, followed by singles by Ronald Bermudez and Butler, added two runs for Greenville, giving them a 3-0 lead.

Drake Britton, still under a strict pitch count, shut down the Hagerstown offense with three innings of one-hit ball.

Tom Ebert struck out the side in the fourth inning before Hagerstown got to him in the top of the fifth. Marcus Jones led off the inning with his second home run of the year. Ebert got two quick groundouts, but surrendered a single to Eury Perez.

Perez stole second before Jeff Kobernus walked, and later scored when he stole third and made it home on a throwing error by Butler. Francisco Soriano doubled in Kobernus before Ebert got out of the inning.

The Drive pulled ahead briefly in the sixth when Vladimir Frias singled and scored on a Bermudez double. The lead did not last long, however, when Perez scored his second run of the game on a sacrifice fly by Soriano in the seventh.

With the score tied at four, the Suns put their leadoff man on in the eighth and ninth innings before being erased by a double play. The Drive were put down in order in the seventh and ninth innings by Rob Wort (3-0), bringing the game into extra innings.

Overall, the Hagerstown bullpen allowed just five hits and two runs (one earned) in five and two-thirds innings of relief.

The Drive look to Ryan Pressly (3-5, 4.10 ERA) to get back on track tomorrow versus the same Hagerstown Suns, who will send Paul Demny (6-2, 2.57 ERA) to the mound. First pitch is scheduled for 7:05 pm at Fluor Field.

Friday's game also features post-game fireworks, set to the songs of the hit rock band KISS.

Check out the Greenville Drive Statistics

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South Atlantic League Stories from July 8, 2010


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