SAL1 Greenville Drive

Drive Use Balanced Attack to Handle Suns, 7-1

Published on July 22, 2008 under South Atlantic League (SAL1)
Greenville Drive News Release


Greenville, SC - The Drive (55-47, 15-17) pitching staff has been nothing short of dominant lately. And once again that trend continued Tuesday night as Chad Povich and Lance McClain limited the Hagerstown Suns (48-53, 14-18) to five hits in the Drive's 7-1 victory in front of 4,620 fans.

Povich (7-3) got off to a shaky start as the Suns plated a run in their first at bat. Mark Gildea drew a leadoff walk, advanced to second on a wild pitch and scored on Jesus Valdez's single. But from there it was a string of zeroes.

It wasn't until the top of the fifth that Povich allowed another baserunner, retiring nine consecutive batters, when Stephen King led off with a single. But even then the damage was minimal as Garrett Bass grounded into a double play. The right-hander faced the minimum number of batters over his final five innings, picking up two of his three strikeouts in the process.

Making his first appearance since joining the Drive on Sunday, Lance McClain picked up where Povich left off. The southpaw allowed just two hits in 3.0 scoreless innings, fanning one to earn his first save.

Offensively, eight of Greenville's nine batters contributed to the attack, as the team totaled 11 hits. The Drive had an answer immediately for Hagerstown's run, plating a pair of their own in the bottom of the first off Colton Willems (5-7). Kristopher Negron led off with a double and scored as Carlos Fernandez followed with an RBI-single. Jered Stanley gave Greenville a lead they would not relinquish with an RBI-single of his own.

The Drive pulled away as they scored single runs in the second, fourth and sixth innings. David Marks highlighted the scoring with a solo homer in the sixth. Kristopher Negron's single and Pete Gilardo's groundout accounted for the Drive's other runs.

Stanley took advantage of reliever Justin Phillabaum as he homered, representing the first batter against the new pitcher in the bottom of the eighth. Oscar Tejeda capped the Drive's scoring as he crossed home on a wild pitch.

The Drive and Suns conclude their four-game series tomorrow morning with first pitch set for 11:05 AM at Fluor Field. Right-hander Ryne Lawson will toe the rubber for Greenville as Hagerstown counters with right-hander Cole Kimball.

Check out the Greenville Drive Statistics

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South Atlantic League Stories from July 22, 2008


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