SAL1 Greenville Drive

Drive Can't Overcome Second Inning

Published on July 21, 2012 under South Atlantic League (SAL1)
Greenville Drive News Release


Greenville, SC - Due to an early offensive surge by the Lexington Legends (52-46, 12-17), scoring five times in the top of the second, the Drive(46-52, 12-16) came out on the wrong end of a 7-5 score Saturday night at Fluor Field.

In game three against the South Atlantic division foe Legends, Greenville was looking to bounce back from a 4-7 loss in their previous outing. With the series tied 1-1 Greenville chose right-hander Luis Diaz (2-6) to toe the mound, hoping to continue his recent string of strong starting efforts.

The first inning began scoreless, followed by a rough second inning for Diaz and the Greenville defense. The right-hander surrendered five runs on six hits, finding themselves in an early hole. All nine of Lexington's batters stepped up to the plate, highlighted by RBI triples from Nolan Fontana, Jason Gominsky, and Ruben Sosa.

The Drive responded with three runs of their own in the third inning, and pulled within a run when they scored again in the fourth. Jose Vinicio and Keury De la Cruz each produced run-scoring singles, while David Renfroe pushed across the third run with a groundout. Blake Swihart tripled to leadoff the fourth, and scored on Jordan Weems' groundout.

While Diaz thrived over his final three innings, holding Lexington scoreless over that span, the early deficit was too much to overcome.

Heading into the sixth inning Greenville was in position to make a run, down just 5-4. Kevin Brahney came in at the top of the sixth inning and pitched a scoreless inning of his own. Greenville's offense remained stagnant for the next two innings, while Lexington scored a run in each, pushing the score to 7-4 heading into the ninth inning.

With Justin Erasmus on the mound for the eighth and ninth innings, Greenville managed to score just one more run, making it a 7-5 loss for the home team.

The Drive and Legends conclude their four-game series on Sunday at Fluor Field, with first pitch set for 4:05 PM. Left-hander Henry Owens (9-3, 4.71 ERA) toes the rubber for Greenville in search of the series split, while Lexington counters with lefty Luis Cruz (7-5, 3.56 ERA).

Tomorrow is Family FunDay at the ballpark, where kids 12 and under get to eat free, courtesy of BI-LO, and then get to run the bases following the game, courtesy of BlueCross BlueShield of South Carolina. For more information regarding tickets, call (864) 240-4500 or log onto GreenvilleDrive.com.

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South Atlantic League Stories from July 21, 2012


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