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SAL1 Greenville Drive

Early Runs Doom Drive in 8-6 Loss to Intimidators

August 26, 2009 - South Atlantic League (SAL1)
Greenville Drive News Release


Greenville, SC - Jeremy Kehrt dug himself and his Drive (66-60, 27-31) teammates an early grave Wednesday night at Fluor Field. The Kannapolis Intimidators (76-51, 39-18) scored twice in the first, and then put the nail in the coffin with five more in their next at bat.

Greenville made a valiant effort at a comeback, but ended up falling two runs short in an 8-6 loss in front of 4,446 fans.

The game got off to an auspicious start, as Kenny Williams led off by reaching on a dropped fly ball by leftfielder Shannon Wilkerson. Brandon Short, who knocked in three runs the night before, pushed across the first run with a triple and scored on a groundout.

An inning later, Kannapolis sent nine batters to the plate, en route to extending their lead to seven runs. Short was in the middle of the scoring once again, lacing an RBI-double. Drew Garcia also added a two-run, two-bagger.

For Kehrt (1-1), once he got through those disastrous first two innings, he was lights out. In fact, the right-hander was perfect in his final three innings, before turning the game over to the bullpen. Leandro Marin turned in a strong performance from the 'pen, striking out five in 3.0 scoreless innings.

But the damage had already been done, even though the Drive started to rally. Will Middlebrooks extended his hit streak to 11 games with a single in the second, and eventually came around to score on Alex Hassan's one-out single.

Hassan knocked in Greenville's second run in the bottom of the third with a double, scoring Middlebrooks who had reached on an error. Oscar Tejeda then cut the deficit to four runs with an RBI-double of his own.

After the Intimidators added their eighth run in the top of the ninth, the Drive made things very interesting against reliever Dan Albritton. The first three batters all reached to load the bases before Kannapolis turned to Kyle Bellamy.

The righty proceeded to strikeout Wilkerson and Casey Kelly. Just when it seemed like the Drive would fail to plate any runs with the sacks full and no outs, a fielding error by Jon Gilmore on Ryan Lavarnway's batted ball allowed two runs to score. But Bellamy induced Ty Weeden into a pop out to second, bringing an end to the comeback.

The Drive and Intimidators meet in the third game of their series on Thursday with first pitch set for 7:05 PM. Right-hander Brock Huntzinger (8-8, 4.14 ERA) will toe the rubber for Greenville as Kannapolis counters with right-hander James Albury (4-0, 4.09 ERA).

Tomorrow is also Dollar Drink Night at Fluor Field, where all fans can purchase 12-ounce Pepsi products at any of the concession stands for just a buck. Those 21 years of age and older, can head over to the Spinx 500 Club for draft specials. For more information regarding single-game tickets, group outings, and luxury accommodations, visit www.GreenvilleDrive.com or call (864) 240-4500.

GAME NOTES:

During his 11-game hit streak, Will Middlebrooks is hitting .372 (16-for-43) with 7 RBI and 10 runs scored...the Drive's 1-through-4 hitters went a combined 0-for-18 Wednesday

Check out the Greenville Drive Statistics



South Atlantic League Stories from August 26, 2009


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