SAL1 Greenville Drive

Drive rally late to beat \'Birds, 4-3

Published on July 25, 2006 under South Atlantic League (SAL1)
Greenville Drive News Release


Salisbury, MD - For the second straight night it looked as if even though the Greenville Drive would outhit the Delmarva Shorebirds, they would fall short on the scoreboard. However the Drive rallied for four runs, two apiece in the seventh and ninth innings, to overtake the Shorebirds and defeat the Northern Division cellar dwellers 4-3. With the win Greenville improved to 21-11 in the second half, but an extra inning victory by the Augusta GreenJackets kept the Drive five games out of first place.

After being shutout over the first six innings by ‘Birds starter Chorye Spoon, the Drive broke through for two runs in the seventh against reliever Josh Potter. With one out, Christian Lara reached on a fielding error by Ryan Finan and Mickey Hall followed with a single up the middle. Dominic Ramos then collected two RBI with a double left field.

Down 3-2, Greenville took the lead in the ninth when Blake Owen blew his first save in five opportunities. Chris Turner led off the inning with a double. Tony Granadillo then laid down a sacrifice bunt in which Owen made a throwing error to first, allowing Turner to score and Granadillo to end up on second. Granadillo advanced to third when Lara reached with a bunt single and scored as Hall followed with a sacrifice fly.

Despite giving up a leadoff single in the bottom of the ninth, Jason Blackey was able to retire the next three batters to pickup his fifth save of the season. Hunter Jones, who tossed 2.0 shutout innings in relief, improved his record to 3-5 by earning the win.

The Shorebirds jumped out to an early lead with two runs in the bottom of the first off Drive starter Michael Bowden. The 19-year-old pitcher, who was in search of running his July record to a perfect 4-0, surrendered a two-run, two-out home run to Vito Chiaravalloti. The long ball, which was his fourth of the season, marked the second straight night in which Chiaravalloti went deep.

An inning later Delmarva extended their lead to 3-0. Juan Gutierrez hit a one-out double and scored three batters later when Blake Davis singled to right. However, it was the final runner that the Drive would allow to cross the plate as they received solid relief pitching from Kyle Fernandes, Jones, and Blackey.

The Drive and Shorebirds play game three of their four game series Wednesday night at Perdue Stadium with first pitch set for 7:05 PM. Left-hander Ryan Phillips will toe the rubber for Greenville as Delmarva counters with right-hander Brandon Erbe.

The Greenville Drive return home on Wednesday, August 2nd when they begin an eight-game home stand, starting with the Lake County Captains. Game time is set for 5:05 PM

Tickets to all Drive home games can be purchased by calling the Drive Ticket Office at 864-240-4528 or online at www.GreenvilleDrive.com.

NOTES: 8 of the 9 Greenville batters had at least one hit...Mickey Hall, Yahmed Yema, and Mark Wagner each had two hits apiece...Jason Blackey has now earned a save in each of his last four appearances and has not allowed a run in his six outings, spanning eight innings

Check out the Greenville Drive Statistics

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South Atlantic League Stories from July 25, 2006


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