SAL1 Greenville Drive

Coyle, Celestino Guide Drive Past BlueClaws, 3-2

July 23, 2011 - South Atlantic League (SAL1)
Greenville Drive News Release


Lakewood, NJ - In front of a small collection of friends and family who made the short trek from the Philadelphia area to the Jersey shore, second baseman Sean Coyle paced the Drive (51-47, 13-15) offense in a 3-2 victory over the Lakewood BlueClaws (48-48m, 15-13) in the series finale at FirstEnergy Park.

With the only base hit from either team through the first three innings coming on a one-out double from Lakewood's Miguel Alvarez in the bottom of the first, Coyle broke a scoreless tie in the top of the fourth. Despite standing at just 5'8", the 19-year-old crushed a 2-0 fastball from Garrett Claypool (3-6) to deep leftfield for a solo homer. It was Coyle's ninth roundtripper, and 34th extra-base hit, of the season.

The BlueClaws quickly responded against Miguel Celestion (8-4), however, knotting the game in the bottom of the fourth. Alvarez tallied his second hit of the game with a leadoff single, and advanced to third as Zach Collier followed with a single of his own. An RBI-groundout by Jim Murphy scored Alvarez, tying the game at 1-1.

A two-run frame in the top of the sixth later proved to be enough for Greenville. Despite failing to successfully lay down a sacrifice bunt that forced Carson Blair out at second, Felix Sanchez more than made up for his miscue. The South Atlantic League's stolen base leader swiped second and third, upping his season total to 35, setting up Coyle's sacrifice fly.

Despite two outs and no runners aboard, Brandon Jacobs and Drew Hedman singled and walked, respectively, before Henry Ramos singled home the eventual game-winning run.

Celestino, who scattered six hits while walking none and striking out seven in 7.0 innings, issued the BlueClaws final run in the bottom of the sixth before turning the game over to the bullpen.

Michael Olmstead insured that the Drive wouldn't be swept for the first time all season, picking up his first save of the season with 2.0 scoreless frames. The right-hander faced the minimum in the eighth and ninth innings, erasing the only hit he allowed by inducing a double-play in his first inning.

The Drive now travel to Hagerstown, Maryland for a four-game series with the Suns, an affiliate of the Washington Nationals. Due to an extremely heavy storm with gusting winds that toppled a light post at Municipal Stadium, Saturday's game will start at 3 PM, rather than the originally scheduled time of 7 PM. Right-hander Kyle Stroup (1-5, 4.73 ERA) will toe the rubber for Greenville in the opener,

The Drive return home to Fluor Field on Thursday, July 28th to closeout the month with a four-game series against the Charleston RiverDogs. 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 23, 2011


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