SAL1 Greenville Drive

Drive Capture Another Thrilling Win, 4-3 in the 11th

Published on July 2, 2011 under South Atlantic League (SAL1)
Greenville Drive News Release


Greenville, SC - Extra-inning games are apparently becoming the norm in Greenville. For the second time in three nights, fans got to witness free baseball at Fluor Field, as the Drive (45-35, 7-3) defeated the Hickory Crawdads (45-33, 5-5) 4-3 in eleven innings.

With Jorge Marban (1-3) on in relief for the Crawdads, Sean Coyle was hit by a pitch with one out. After stealing second, Marban uncorked two wild pitches during Christian Vazquez's at-bat to give the Drive the victory. Charle Rosario (5-0) pitched two scoreless innings for Greenville to pick up the win.

In a recurring theme, both teams wasted terrific efforts from their starting pitchers. Greenville's Brandon Workman tossed 5.0 innings, only allowing one hit and one run while striking out a career-high nine batters. Hickory's Roman Mendez allowed two runs and struck out 10 Drive hitters in 7.0 innings.

Workman faced the minimum through the first four innings. He allowed a leadoff walk to Andrew Clark in the fifth. After a wild pitch and a pair of strikeouts, Yefry Castillo scored Clark when he ripped a double to left-center, spoiling Workman's no-hitter and shutout.

Workman faced a jam in the sixth when Jonathan Roof singled to start the frame and Jurickson Profar walked. The tall righty then proceeded to strike out Jake Skole and Christian Villanueva looking. Roof and Profar pulled off a double steal with two outs, but Workman got Clark to fly out to end the threat.

The Drive evened the game at one in the bottom of the sixth. Heiker Meneses and Sean Coyle hit back-to-back singles to begin the inning. The two then advanced a base after Mendez balked. After a strikeout, Michael Almanzar grounded out to first to bring home Meneses.

Greenville continued to get to Mendez in the seventh inning. Xander Bogaerts led off and crushed a home run well over the center field wall to give the Drive a 2-1 lead. David Renfroe followed with a walk, and after a popout, Felix Sanchez hit an infield single and Meneses was hit by a pitch to load the bases. Mendez settled down and struck out Coyle swinging and got Vazquez to line out to left to escape further damage.

Drive reliever Michael Olmsted couldn't make the lead last in the top of the eighth. Roof greeted Olmsted with a double off the left-center fence. Profar sacrifice bunted Roof to third and Olmsted hurled a wild pitch to bring in Roof. Skole was then hit by a pitch and came around to score when Henry Ramos misplayed Clark's fly ball into a three-base error to give Hickory a 3-2 lead.

The Drive tied the game in the bottom of the ninth off Crawdads closer Ryan Rodebaugh. Lucas LeBlanc singled to start the rally and quickly stole second base. Felix Sanchez then walked, and LeBlanc stole third on the 3-2 pitch. After Meneses and Coyle were both caught looking, Vazquez's groundball to Villanueva was botched for an error, scoring LeBlanc and knotting the game at 3-all.

The Drive will look for the second sweep of the season as they conclude the three-game series against the Crawdads, as well as their seven-game homestand on Sunday with first pitch set for 7:05 PM. Right-hander Keith Couch (3-2, 3.44 ERA) will toe the rubber for Greenville, while Hickory counters with right-hander Nick McBride (0-1, 8.16 ERA).

Following tomorrow night's contest, fans will be treated to the second fireworks show in three days, celebrating the Fourth of July! For more information regarding single-game tickets, luxury accommodations, group outings, and ticket plan packages call (864) 240-4500 or visit www.GreenvilleDrive.com.

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South Atlantic League Stories from July 2, 2011


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