Sand Gnats Top Drive, 3-1 Moncada goes 2-3 with an RBI

July 4, 2015 - South Atlantic League (SAL1)
Greenville Drive News Release

Greenville, SC - The Greenville Drive welcomed a season-high crowd of 6,721 fans to Fluor Field for the 4th of July game on Saturday night, but the Savannah Sand Gnats played the role of spoiler, defeating the Drive 3-1 in the series opener.

Outstanding pitching was the story early on, as Savannah starter Corey Oswalt (6-3) and Greenville (5-5, 43-37) starter Dedgar Jimenez traded zeroes for the first four innings. A high pitch count ran Jimenez out of the game after the fourth despite allowing just three hits and one walk with four strikeouts.

Jake Drehoff (1-1) followed Jimenez into the game and threw two scoreless innings of his own before Savannah got to him in the seventh on a solo homer to center by Vicente Lupo.

The Sand Gnats tacked on two more runs in the eighth thanks to an RBI double by Michael Katz and an RBI single by Jon Leroux.

In the bottom of the eighth, the Drive finally scratched against Oswalt with a run-scoring single by Yoan Moncada that plated Bryan Hudson, who doubled to begin the frame. Following a Savannah pitching change to Cameron Griffin, Michael Chavis drew a walk, but Griffin rebounded to get a flyout and a strikeout to escape further trouble.

Jimmy Duff threw a perfect ninth to log his eighth save for the Sand Gnats.

Moncada went 2-3 with an RBI and a stolen base to pace the Greenville offense. Katz, Leroux and Natanael Ramos each picked up a pair of hits for Savannah.

Game two of the series begins at 4:05 PM on Sunday afternoon at Fluor Field. The Drive will send RH Jeffry Fernandez (2-5, 5.51) to the mound, and he'll be opposed by Sand Gnats RH Ricky Knapp (2-1, 2.11).

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South Atlantic League Stories from July 4, 2015

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• Asheville Shuts Out Legends 13-0 - Lexington Legends
• Tourists Shine on Independence Day - Asheville Tourists
• Power Pitching Lights Up the Fourth - Augusta GreenJackets
• 'Birds Unable to Recover After Slow Start - Delmarva Shorebirds
• Almonte Takes No-Hitter Two Outs into 9th - Kannapolis Cannon Ballers
• Garcia, Claws Blank Suns on 4th of July - Jersey Shore BlueClaws
• Power defeats Delmarva - Charleston Dirty Birds
• Sand Gnats Top Drive, 3-1 Moncada goes 2-3 with an RBI - Greenville Drive
• Toussaint Too Much, RiverDogs Fall 1-0 in Rain-Shortened Affair - Charleston RiverDogs
• Kannapolis Receives Simon from Charlotte - Kannapolis Cannon Ballers
• WV Power Game Notes: July 4, 2015 vs. Delmarva - Charleston Dirty Birds
• Biggest Crowd of Season Likely on July 4 - Greensboro Grasshoppers
• Errors Unravel Crawdads in 4-3 Loss - Hickory Crawdads

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