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SAL Greenville Drive

Roman Anthony Walks It off for Drive in Bottom of the Ninth

June 16, 2023 - South Atlantic League (SAL)
Greenville Drive News Release


In just his fourth game in a Drive uniform, the 19-year-old outfielder Roman Anthony played hero for the Greenville Drive (34-27) in the bottom of the ninth, putting a grounder in play that bounded off the glove of the Greensboro Grasshoppers (33-26) Mike Jarvis allowing the winning run to cross the plate and give the Drive a 7-6 win Friday night. The walk-off would officially be scored an error.

The Drive erased a three-run deficit in the bottom of the eighth after giving up four runs in the seventh. The eighth energized the Fluor Field crowd and the Drive fed off the energy in the ninth, avenging last night's extra innings loss. It was the kind of game indicative of the series and the fight each side is enduring as they try to clinch playoff spots in their respective divisions. The Drive, however, still sit a half game back of Winston-Salem for first place as the Dash picked up a walk-off balk victory Friday night.

The 'Hoppers sprang to an early 1-0 lead Friday night in the top of the third on a Tres Gonzalez soft single to left field that would be miss handled by Bryan Gonzalez, allowing Wyatt Hendrie to cross the plate.

But the Drive would find a way to answer in the bottom half of the inning. Alex Erro slapped a one-out double to the left field gap allowing Roman Anthony to bring him home with a hard single to right center field, knotting the game at 1-1.

After a Max Ferguson groundout moved Anthony to third, Blaze Jordan would follow up his homer from the night before with an encore performance. He sent a screaming liner over the Monster in left field for his ninth homer of the year, putting the Drive up 3-1.

The 'Hoppers would claw back in the middle innings with an RBI-single from Jase Bowen drawing the game to 3-2, before exploding for a four-run seventh inning. Drive starter Hunter Dobbins would finish the night tossing six innings for the Drive, allowing two runs on seven hits, issuing one walk and ringing up eight.

As the game flipped to the seventh, the 'Hoppers were jumpstarted and sprang for four runs thanks to a RBI-double off reliever Aaron Perry and a three-run homer off reliever Nathan Landry later in the inning putting the 'Hoppers up 6-3.

The game would stay that way until the bottom of the eighth as the Drive searched for a rally. And a rally is exactly what they'd find as three straight singles, the final from Bryan Gonzalez scored Ferguson to cut the lead to 6-4. Ronald Rosario kept the line moving for the Drive as his second scored Jordan from third to make it 6-5 before an Eddinson Paulino groundout was enough to score Gonzalez from third and knot the game at 6-6.

Greenville was determined this time not to reach extra innings, firing off back-to-back singles in the ninth that put Eduardo Lopez and Erro on first and second. A wild pitch moved Lopez to third giving Anthony the opportunity to play hero. He'd do just that on a 2-2 pitch, putting the ball in play and watching it bounce off the Mike Jarvis' glove allowing Lopez to scoot home and beat the throw giving the Drive a walk-off 7-6 victory.

The Drive (Boston Red Sox) return to action tomorrow at 7:05 p.m. at Fluor Field for game five of the six-game series against the Greensboro Grasshoppers (Pittsburgh Pirates) where they will don their Black Spinners uniform in homage to the Greenville Black Spinners. The series is split, 2-2.

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South Atlantic League Stories from June 16, 2023


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