SAL1 Greenville Drive

Drive Finish Sweep of RiverDogs with 5-3 Win

Published on July 31, 2011 under South Atlantic League (SAL1)
Greenville Drive News Release


Greenville, SC - The Greenville Drive (58-48, 20-16) will leave town with some serious momentum on their side. Thanks to a fine start from Keith Couch, the Drive completed their sweep of the Charleston RiverDogs (41-65, 15-21) with a 5-3 win at Fluor Field on Sunday night. The win pushes the Drive winning streak to six, which is their second longest of the season.

Couch improved to 5-3 on the year after hurling seven solid innings, allowing only one earned run on six hits while striking out four RiverDogs hitters. Michael Olmsted finished the night with two scoreless frames to pick up his third save.

The Drive offense got started early with a pair of runs in the first inning against RiverDogs starter Jose A. Ramirez (5-5). Felix Sanchez led off with a walk and quickly swiped his league-leading 44th base of the season. Sean Coyle also walked, and both runners advanced when Ramirez's attempt to pick off Sanchez bounced into center field. Brandon Jacobs then hit a sacrifice fly to center to put the Drive on the board, and Christian Vazquez followed with a single to left, plating Coyle for a 2-0 lead.

In the top half of the fourth inning, Charleston finally scratched a run against Couch. Shane Brown hit a one-out single, and Taylor Grote smacked a double into the right-center gap. Brown advanced to third on the hit and came around to score when Drive center fielder Henry Ramos bobbled the ball for an error, cutting the lead in half.

Greenville stretched the lead to 5-1 in the bottom of the fifth. Drew Hedman started the frame off with a sharp single to right, and Wilfred Pichardo laid down a terrific bunt single to push Hedman to second. Sanchez followed with a bunt to move the runners up ninety feet, and Coyle ripped a long double to the wall in left field, scoring Hedman and Pichardo. Brandon Jacobs then hit a infield single to short, but RiverDogs shortstop Jose Mojica lost control of the ball, bringing home Coyle for an unearned run.

Charleston plated their final two runs of the evening in the top half of the seventh. Gary Sanchez reached when Jacobs misplayed his fly ball for a two-base error. Sanchez moved to third on Garrison Lassiter's groundout to first and came home on a single by Mojica. Eduardo Sosa grounded out to the pitcher to advance Mojica to second, and Jose Toussen drove in the RiverDogs' final run with a single to right.

Jacobs and Pichardo each collected a pair of hits for Greenville on the evening, while Coyle chipped in with two runs and two RBI. Brown and Grote picked up two hits apiece for Charleston.

The Drive now travel to Georgia for a four-game series with the Rome Braves at State Mutual Stadium, beginning Monday at 7:05 PM. Left-hander Manuel Rivera (5-4, 3.63 ERA) will toe the rubber for Greenville in the opener, while Rome counters with right-hander Willie Kempf (2-3, 3.80 ERA).

The Drive return home to Fluor Field on Friday, August 5th for a four-game series with the Lexington Legends. For more information regarding single-game tickets, luxury accommodations, group outings, and ticket plan packages call (864) 240-4500 or visit www.GreenvilleDrive.com.

GAME NOTES: Attendance was 3,302...this was the Drive's 2nd sweep of the season (June 16-19 vs. Savannah) and they have yet to be swept in 2011...since moving to the rotation, Keith Couch is 5-2 with a 3.03 ERA (24 ER/71.1 IP), 58 K and 5 BB in 12 starts...Sean Coyle has 37 extra-base hits this season - 20 doubles, 6 triples, 11 homers - which is tied for 15th in the South Atlantic League

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South Atlantic League Stories from July 31, 2011


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