SAL1 Greenville Drive

Suns Outslug Drive, 13-9

Published on June 21, 2013 under South Atlantic League (SAL1)
Greenville Drive News Release


After a lopsided defeat on Thursday, the Greenville Drive (0-2, 22-49) had a big offensive game on Friday night. The bats of the Hagerstown Suns (2-0, 40-29) were just a little bit hotter, however, as they defeated the Drive 13-9 in a game with 25 combined hits.

Hagerstown took the early 2-0 lead in the second against Drive starter Francellis Montas (1-6) on a fielder's choice and an error. They added three runs in the third thanks to an RBI single by Matt Foat and a two-run single by Pedro Severino.

The Drive then tied the game up in the fourth with a big inning against Nick Lee. David Chester's one-out double to right-center scored Mookie Betts, who led off with an infield single. Chester came in to score after a pair of wild pitches. Jayson Hernandez later lined a single into left field to plate the third run, and Keaton Briscoe followed with a doubled just inside the third-base bag to bring in two more.

The Suns roared right back and put up a five-spot of their own in the fifth. They took the lead for good with Francisco Taveras on the mound after Khayyan Norfork, who singled to begin the inning, swiped third and came home when Hernandez's throw ended up in left field. Narciso Mesa came up two batters later and doubled home a runner. Tony Renda then stepped up and drove a three-run homer over the Green Monster to cap the inning.

The big inning made a winner out of Suns reliever Travis Henke (3-1), who worked two and a third scoreless frames with a pair of strikeouts.

Renda added a two-run double to his big day in the top of the seventh that extended the Suns' lead to 12-5. Brandon Miller stepped up later in the inning and added an RBI single.

The offense ended in the bottom of the seventh as the Drive scored four more runs. With the bases loaded, Chester drove a ground-rule double to right field to bring home two, and RBI singles from Mario Martinez and Aneury Tavarez cut the lead to the eventual final score.

Manuel Rivera threw the final two and a third innings for the Drive and didn't allow a run while punching out three.

Norfork had three hits and scored three times to lead Hagerstown. Renda picked up a pair of hits and five RBIs, while Foat and Stephen Perez each had a pair of hits. Severino added three RBIs. Chester collected two hits and three RBIs for Greenville. Betts, Martinez and Tavarez added two hits apiece.

Saturday night marks game three of the four-game series at Fluor Field, with first pitch set for 7:05. LHP Cody Kukuk (3-7, 4.66) takes the ball for the Drive, while RHP Pedro Encarnacion (5-3, 2.68) starts for the Suns.

Check out the Greenville Drive Statistics

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South Atlantic League Stories from June 21, 2013


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