SAL1 Greenville Drive

Drive routed by Intimidators, 8-3

Published on July 10, 2006 under South Atlantic League (SAL1)
Greenville Drive News Release


Kannapolis, NC - The Greenville Drive had high hopes coming into their three-game series with the Southern Division's last place team, the Kannapolis Intimidators. However, those hopes were dashed as the Drive fell victims to the Intimidators once again Monday night at Fieldcrest Cannon Stadium, this time by the score of 8-3. With the loss Greenville dropped two in the series to Kannapolis and now sits at 11-8, tied for second with Asheville as both teams are 5.0 games behind first place Augusta.

The Drive plated their only runs of the game with one in the top of the first and two in their final at bat in the ninth. In the first, Jay Johnson was the recipient of a lead off walk and scored as Dominic Ramos, the very next batter, doubled to left field.

Down 8-1 in the ninth, Greenville plated two meaningless runs off of reliever Jason Rice. Chris Turner and Zak Farkes led off with back-to-back walks before Christian Lara singled home Turner two batters later. The Drive would plate their final run as Ramos hit a two-out single, knocking in Farkes.

Ryan Phillips (1-3), who cruised through the first four innings allowing just two hits while striking out three, ran into trouble in the bottom of the fifth as he surrendered three runs on two hits. Javier Castillo singled to left, stole second and then wound up on third due to a groundout before scoring on Brandon Allen's single. Phillips then issued four straight walks - one each to Paulo Orlando, Aaron Cunningham, Fernando Valenzuela, Jr., and Juan Camacho - to give up two more runs before being replaced by Tim Cox to get out of the inning.

The problems worsened for the Drive as Kannapolis extended their lead to 5-1 with two runs in the seventh off Hunter Jones. Jones started off the inning in bad shape after allowing the first three batters to reach and load the bases with no outs. After a fielder's choice at home, Jones allowed Orlando and Cunningham to score on a wild pitch.

The Intimidators' lead surmounted to seven runs in the eighth as they plated three more runs off Jones. Javier Castillo, Alan Ricks, and Brandon Johnson each singled to setup a bases loaded single by Eric Mesa, scoring Castillo. Another single by Cunningham knocked in two more runs, leaving no chance for Greenville to comeback.

After a much needed day off Tuesday, the Drive return home to West End Field on Wednesday, July 12th when they host the Asheville Tourists at 12:05 PM for a "Businessperson's Special." Knuckleball specialist John Barnes will take the mound for Greenville as they look to make up some ground on the first place GreenJackets.

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: Dominic Ramos and Chris Turner each chipped in with two hits to lead the Drive offensively...Greenville stranded 25 baserunners...Mitch Stachowsky achieved the "Golden Sombrero," going 0-for-4 at the plate with four strikeouts...Kannapolis stole five bases...Aaron Cunningham led the Intimidators batting 3-for-4 with 2 RBI

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South Atlantic League Stories from July 10, 2006


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