SAL1 Greenville Drive

Drive Outlast Braves in 10 Innings, 3-2

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


Rome, GA - Drive manager Billy McMillon may want to make sure he has plenty of Tums on hand when the Rome Braves (42-65, 17-20) visit Fluor Field in a few weeks. That's because 10 of 12 games between the two teams have been decided by two runs or less, including Tuesday's game which Greenville (59-49, 21-17) won 5-3 in 10 innings at State Mutual Stadium.

For awhile it looked like lady luck would not be on the Drive's side as they found themselves tied through six innings, despite the Braves having committed six errors over that span. Neither team played particularly well defensively, as Greenville had a pair of defensive miscues of their own.

One of those Drive errors came in the bottom of the first inning, leading to Rome striking for the game's first run. After Miguel Celestino retired the first two batters he issued a walk to Tommy La Stella, and then inning resumed as Sean Coyle's errant throw on Edward Salcedo's ground ball kept the inning going. Chris Garcia then collected an RBI-single.

While it does not go down as an error in the scorebook, you can chalk up Rome's second run to a mental mistake by Celestino. Matt Lipka led off the bottom of the third with a single, and after advancing to third on a groundout and wild pitch, he crossed home on a balk.

The Braves did their best "Bad News Bears" impersonation in the top of the fifth, committing four errors while the Drive tallied just one hit to tie the game at 2-2. Henry Ramos singled to leadoff the inning, went to second on a failed pickoff by catcher Ryan Query and onto third as it was coupled with an error by David Rohm in right-field, who overran the bad throw. Ramos then scored when Michael Almanzar reached on a fielding error by Garcia. Another error, this time on Wilfred Pichardo's batted ball allowed Almanzar to score.

The Drive captured their first lead an inning later on Almanzar's single, only to see Rome tie the game at 3-3 when La Stella led off the home half of the sixth with a solo homer.

The scoring came to a halt in the seventh as both teams went to their bullpens. Jordan Flasher, who was activated from disabled list prior to the game after being placed there on June 6th with a right elbow strain, kept the Braves hitless over 2.0 shutout frames.

Justin Erasmus (3-0) was once again impossible for the opposition to score on, retired six of the seven batters he faced over the ninth and tenth innings, allowing only Kyle Rose to reach in the bottom of the ninth on a hit by pitch.

The end of the game did not go as planned for Rome's Tyler Stovall (1-4) who entered the game with one out in the top of the ninth, setting down both Pichardo and Sanchez. However, in the 10th, the left-hander experienced major control issues as he walked five batters, leading to a pair of Drive runs without even collecting a hit.

The Drive and Braves continue their series on Wednesday, with first pitch set for 7:05 PM. Right-hander Kyle Stroup (2-5, 4.33 ERA) will toe the rubber for Greenville, while Rome counters with right-hander Caleb Brewer (5-8, 5.08 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.

Check out the Greenville Drive Statistics

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South Atlantic League Stories from August 2, 2011


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