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Drive rally past Suns for 5-4 victory

July 13, 2009 - South Atlantic League (SAL1) - Greenville Drive News Release


Hagerstown, MD - For nine innings on Tuesday, the Drive and Hagerstown Suns countered one another. Following four lead changes, Greenville (47-38, 8-9) emerged with a 5-4 victory in the series opener at Municipal Stadium.

The Suns (36-49, 5-13) kicked off the scoring in the home half of the first inning, plating a run off Hunter Strickland. After retiring the first two batters of the inning, Strickland surrendered back-to-back doubles to Tyler Moore and Steven Souza.

Two innings later, the Drive continued to excel with two outs in an inning, taking a 2-1 lead in the top of the third. Jon Hee and Jeremy Hazelbaker each drew a walk, and Ryan Dent grounded into a fielder's choice before Ryan Lavarnway delivered a two-out, two-run double.

But it didn't take long for Hagerstown to regain the lead, answering for a pair of runs in the home half of the third. Moore and Souza accounted for the Suns runs once again, as Moore was issued a base on balls and Souza bashed a two-run homer, giving him three runs batted in.

Hagerstown doubled its lead the next inning, with leftfielder Robby Jacobsen reaching on a leadoff double, advancing to third on a groundout, and scoring on a two-out wild pitch.

With a 4-2 lead in the top of the fifth, Suns starter Paul Demny ran into trouble, allowing a Jeremy Hazelbaker RBI double to right, and leaving the game with runners at the corners and two outs. Reliever Justin Phillabaum (1-3) got the Suns out of the jam without further damage, but two innings later Phillabaum gave up the lead for good when Ryan Dent delivered with a two-run single up the middle to put Greenville ahead, 5-4.

The Drive pitchers made sure there would not be another rally from the Hagerstown offense, holding them scoreless over the final five innings. Chad Povich (1-0) picked up the win in his first appearance after joining Greenville earlier in the day, with two innings of scoreless relief.

Lance McClain allowed a pair of hits and fanned three in the final two innings to earn his team-leading sixth save of 2009.

The Drive and Suns meet in the second game of their four-game series on Tuesday night with first pitch set for 7:05 PM from Municipal Stadium. Greenville manager Kevin Boles will send southpaw Nick Hagadone (0-2, 4.50 ERA), the Red Sox number three prospect, to the mound.


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