SAL1 Greenville Drive

Matsuo, Drive Handle Legends, 7-3

Published on August 13, 2008 under South Atlantic League (SAL1)
Greenville Drive News Release


Greenville, SC - Terumasa Matsuo brought his "A"-game to the ballpark Wednesday night, flirting with a no-hitter, and the Drive (64-57, 24-27) offense pounded out 11 hits en route to a 7-3 victory over the Lexington Legends (39-81, 18-33).

Matsuo baffled the Legends offense, retiring the first 12 batters he faced before Kyle Miller led off the fifth by reaching base on a Manny Arambarris fielding error. That didn't faze the 26-year-old right-hander, however, as he struckout the next two batters before Will Vazquez gunned down Miller trying to swipe second base.

It wasn't until there was one out in the top of the seventh that Matsuo surrendered a hit, a double by Brian Pellegrini. Miller then followed with an RBI-single, brining an end to Matsuo's evening.

Meanwhile, the Drive offense was clicking once again, mounting a 4-0 lead through six innings. Following a two-out single by David Mailman in the third, Carlos Fernandez broke a scoreless tie with an RBI-double.

A Lexington error in the bottom of the sixth, led to three unearned Greenville runs off Jacob Leonhardt (4-12) coming on Zach Penprase's run-scoring double and a two-run homer by Oscar Tejeda.

The Drive added three more runs off the Legends bullpen in the seventh. David Marks led off with a solo homer before Mailman and Ryan Kalish added RBI base hits.

Relieving Lance McClain, who tossed 1.1 innings, Felix Ventura held Lexington scoreless over the final 1.1 innings to earn his 18th save of the season.

The Drive will look to complete the sweep of the Legends Thursday night with first pitch set for 7:05 PM. Right-hander Chad Povich will take the mound for Greenville as Lexington counters with right-hander Leandro Cespedes.

With a crowd of 3,777 fans, the Drive inched closer to their millionth fan as the total is now 975,501 in 198 games at Fluor Field. In each game until the milestone mark is reached one fan will be selected for the chance to be the honorary millionth fan. For more information regarding single-game tickets, ticket plans, group outings and luxury accommodations, visit www.GreenvilleDrive.com or call (864) 240-4500.

NOTES: With base hits, David Marks and David Mailman each extended their hit streaks to seven games

Check out the Greenville Drive Statistics

Share: Facebook | Twitter/X | LinkedIn | Reddit | Email



South Atlantic League Stories from August 13, 2008


The opinions expressed in this release are those of the organization issuing it, and do not necessarily reflect the thoughts or opinions of OurSports Central or its staff.

OurSports Central