SAL Greenville Drive

Drive Drop Seventh Straight, Fall 13-5 to Hickory

Published on August 22, 2023 under South Atlantic League (SAL)
Greenville Drive News Release


The hits and errors came early and often Tuesday night as the Hickory Crawdads (32-16, 59-50) poured on 13 runs through the first four innings and benefited from four Drive errors. That was all they needed enroute to a 13-5 victory over the Greenville Drive (20-29, 56-59), whose losing streak has now reached seven games.

The Crawdads battered Drive starter Juan Daniel Encarnacion for four runs on four hits in the first inning including, three straight singles, a walked in run, another RBI-single, and a run on a fielding error. Encarnacion would last just 3.2 innings, allowing 12 runs on 10 hits while and striking out four. Only seven of the 12 runs attributed to Encarnacion were earned.

Max Acosta added a sacrifice fly for the Crawdads in the second and it took until the third for the Drive to get a hit, thanks to a Roman Anthony single with two gone in the inning.

Encarnacion surrendered back-to-back homers in the third to stretch the Hickory lead to 8-0 before the Drive would get one run back in the top of the fourth on Allan Castro's fourth homer of the season.

But the game would grow further out of reach in the bottom half of the inning as the Crawdads strung five runs together, the first three on an Abimelec Ortiz RBI-single, and Geisel Cepeda two-RBI triple. Encarnacion was pulled after the triple, but two pitches later Daniel Mateo slung a two-run homer to left field off reliever Jordan DiValerio making it 13-1.

Greenville picked up three runs in the third on a Max Ferguson ground rule double, a Kyle Teel sacrifice-fly and a Castro RBI-double, making it 13-4. The Drive's final run would come in the eighth as a Gilberto Jimenez groundout scored Tyler Miller to cap the scoring at 13-5.

As for positives, Castro turned in a 3-for-5 night at the plate that included his homer and RBI-double. Eddinson Paulino was 1-for-2 on the night including a double and two walks. Pitcher Reidis Sena spun a scoreless eighth for the Drive and struck out the side.

The Greenville Drive (Boston Red Sox) return to action on Tuesday, August 23rd at 7:00 p.m. against the Hickory Crawdads (Texas Rangers) for a game two of the six-game series. Hickory leads the series, 1-0.

Check out the Greenville Drive Statistics

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South Atlantic League Stories from August 22, 2023


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