SAL1 Greenville Drive

Drive Drop Wild Affair in Front of Record Attendance

Published on July 3, 2014 under South Atlantic League (SAL1)
Greenville Drive News Release


Greenville, SC - Wednesday's crowd of 7,179 fans, a Fluor Field record for a Greenville Drive (3-11, 37-46) game, witnessed a game that had a little bit of everything. After the Drive forced extra innings with an incredible ninth-inning rally, the Asheville Tourists (10-4, 51-32) scored twice in the tenth and held off another comeback attempt for an 8-7 win.

Trailing 6-1 in the ninth, the Drive staged a furious comeback to tie the game. Carlos Asuaje began the madness with a single to right, and Wendell Rijo then cranked a two-run homer over the Monster. Manuel Margot followed with a solo shot to left-center to cut the Asheville lead to two.

After Kendrick Perkins' single and Jimmy Rider's double, Asheville brought in Matt Carasiti (4-1) to try and slam the door. It wouldn't happen in the ninth, as Tim Roberson walked to load the bases. A passed ball brought home a run, and Tzu-Wei Lin lined a single to tie the game, but Tourists center fielder David Dahl fired home to nail pinch-runner Zach Kapstein at home plate and keep the game going.

The Tourists scored twice in the tenth off Raynel Velette (4-2) after a Correlle Prime RBI triple and a Jordan Patterson sacrifice fly. The Drive plated a run of their own in the bottom half on Asuaje's RBI single, but Margot's hard ground ball was speared by Asheville third baseman Ryan McMahon for a game-ending 5-4-3 double play.

Asheville tagged Drive starter Myles Smith for a pair of two-run homers in his four and two-third innings of work, with Jose Briceno's two-run shot in the second making the score 2-0 and Michael Benjamin's blast in the fifth pushing Asheville's lead to 4-1.

The Drive got on the board in the fourth on Rijo's RBI single to plate Lin, who reached on an error.

Following Benjamin's homer in the top of the fifth, Prime drove home a run with a double to make the score 5-1, and Benjamin hit a sacrifice fly in the sixth to give Asheville another run.

Tourists starter Konner Wade received a no-decision despite allowing just four hits, one walk and an unearned run in seven innings with six strikeouts. Briceno, Prime and Raimel Tapia all collected two hits for Asheville, while Benjamin drove in three.

Rijo went 2-5 with three RBI to lead Greenville, while Asuaje, Rider and Romanski added two hits apiece.

The series wraps up on Thursday night at 7:05. LH Daniel McGrath (3-3, 3.46) takes the mound for the Drive, who are looking to snap their nine-game losing streak, while RH Johendi Jiminian (8-4, 4.64) starts for the Tourists.

Check out the Greenville Drive Statistics

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South Atlantic League Stories from July 3, 2014


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