SAL Greenville Drive

Drive Take Series with Wild Sunday Night Victory

Published on September 3, 2023 under South Atlantic League (SAL)
Greenville Drive News Release


An electric night of baseball and on-field oddities helped send off 2023 regular-season play at Fluor Field as the Greenville Drive (27-33, 63-63) dispatched the Brooklyn Cyclones (34-26, 62-63) in a back-and-forth affair, 9-8.

Greenville's win marked a series victory as the Drive took four of six games against the Cyclones on the week and officially ended the 2023 regular season at Fluor Field, giving the Drive a 36-30 record at home.

The game did not seem destined for a back-and-forth affair early as the teams combined for just three hits through 3.1 innings. Tyler Miller finally broke the low-hitting deadlock in the fourth, barreling up a single through the right side of the infield to bring in Bryan Gonzalez to give the Drive a 1-0 lead.

After a Kristian Campbell groundout that moved the runners to second and third, Gilberto Jimenez lined a single into right field that scored both runners for a 3-0 lead after the fourth.

But Brooklyn quickly responded in the top of the fifth with two homers, a solo shot from D'Andre Smith and a three-run shot from Ryan Clifford to put the Cyclones in front, 4-3. Greenville would even the game again in the bottom of the fifth thanks to a Gonzalez RBI-single.

Greenville regained the lead in the sixth as Nick Decker turned on the pitch and sent it 408 feet off the bat over the bullpens to make it 6-4. But again, the Cyclones found a way to come back.

In the top of the eighth, Brooklyn picked up three runs via an RBI-double and an RBI-single from Jacob Reimer and Drake Osborn respectively to take a 7-6 lead.

In wild fashion, Gilberto Jimenez's chopping grounder snuck under the glove of the third baseman scoring Tyler Miller to knot the game. Three batters later Eddinson Paulino slipped a bloop single into right field bringing home Jimenez and Karson Simas to put the Drive up 9-7.

As the game flipped to the top of the ninth, things got weird. After a wild double play on the Paulino RBI-single to end the eighth, Brock Bell slipped off the mound during warm up pitchers and a patron ran from the stands to centerfield and lopped back fro the stands before being stopped and escorted out. Bell would give up a home run to make it 9-8 before he'd get the final two outs to give the Drive the victory.

The Greenville Drive (Boston Red Sox) return to action Tuesday, September 5th for a six-game series with the Aberdeen IronBirds (Baltimore Orioles) to close out the regular season. The Drive return to Fluor Field on September 14th for the SAL Playoffs.

Check out the Greenville Drive Statistics

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South Atlantic League Stories from September 3, 2023


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