SAL1 Greenville Drive

Drive Fall 5-3 to Fireflies

Published on April 22, 2016 under South Atlantic League (SAL1)
Greenville Drive News Release


Greenville, SC - For the second consecutive night, the Greenville Drive were done in by a ninth-inning comeback, as the Columbia Fireflies plated two runs in the final frame to notch a 5-3 victory in Friday's contest at Fluor Field.

The inning began with a single by Dash Winningham and a walk by Jeff Diehl. Natanael Ramos then laid down a sacrifice bunt that Drive (9-7) pitcher Jeffry Fernandez (0-1) bobbled for an error, and he then threw the ball away for a second error on the play to plate the go-ahead run. An RBI single by Milton Ramos brought home another run for insurance.

The Drive received a strong start from Marc Brakeman in his Fluor Field debut, as the right-hander set down 12 consecutive Columbia hitters at one point and held the Fireflies off the board for his first five innings of work.

Kyri Washington gave the Drive a 1-0 lead in the second inning off Fireflies (9-7) starter Kevin Canelon with an RBI single to center that scored Tate Matheny, who walked and swiped second and third base.

In the fourth, Josh Ockimey continued his hot hitting by crushing a Canelon offering over the batter's eye in center field, his fifth homer of the year, to make the score 2-0.

After recording two quick outs in the sixth, Brakeman eventually loaded the bases and gave way to Dioscar Romero. David Thompson rudely greeted Romero by lacing a two-run double to deep left field to tie the game at two.

A homer by Diehl leading off the seventh inning put the Fireflies ahead 3-2, but the Drive answered in the bottom half after a Washington double and an RBI hit by Joseph Monge.

Johnny Magliozzi (1-0) pitched the seventh and eighth innings for Columbia and got the win, while Tyler Bashlor hurled a scoreless ninth to get the save.

The Drive received two hits on the night from Monge, Washington, Chad De La Guerra and Trenton Kemp.

The series rolls on with a 7:05 first pitch on Saturday night at Fluor Field. Right-hander Anderson Espinoza (1-1, 2.40) gets the ball for the Drive, and the Fireflies will send right-hander Tyler Badamo (1-1, 5.73) to the mound.

Check out the Greenville Drive Statistics

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South Atlantic League Stories from April 22, 2016


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