Tourists Walk off with 5-4 Win over Drive
April 16, 2015 - South Atlantic League (SAL1)
Greenville Drive News Release
Asheville, NC - In the Greenville Drive's (3-5) first road game of the season, the Asheville Tourists (5-2) weren't very hospitable hosts, as they scored three runs late to force extra innings and eventually walked off in the 11th inning with a 5-4 victory on Thursday night.
With the game running long, Francisco Tellez (0-1), who started the game at first base for the Drive, took over on the mound in the 11th. He recorded the out of the inning before Forrest Wall singled. Wall moved to second on a groundout and stole third during Wes Rogers' at-bat, which resulted in a walk. Emerson Jimenez then finished things off with a single to left field to clinch the victory.
Jerad McCrummen (1-0) threw a scoreless top half of the 11th to pick up the win.
The Drive took an early 1-0 lead in the top of the first when Carlos Mesa cracked a line drive over the right-center field wall for his first homer of the season.
Asheville was stymied by Drive starter Jalen Beeks until the bottom of the sixth when Drew Weeks lined a triple to center field to score Rogers, who dropped down a bunt single and stole second.
Despite receiving a no-decision, Beeks was outstanding in his second start of the year, allowing just the one run and five hits in five and two-third innings with no walks and seven strikeouts.
Thanks to a pair of Asheville errors and an RBI double by Mauricio Dubon, the Drive gained the lead right back in the top of the eighth to make the score 4-1.
Sitting just six outs away from victory, the Drive bullpen couldn't hang on to the lead in the eighth inning, as Kevin Padlo's two-run double cut the lead to one and another double, this one by Randy Reyes, knotted things up.
Mesa led the Greenville offense by picking up three hits for the second consecutive night. Dubon and Joseph Monge added two hits apiece, while Nick Longhi went 1-5 to extend his season-opening hitting streak to seven games.
Jimenez had three hits for Asheville, while Reyes, Rogers and Weeks each collected a pair of hits.
The Drive will send RH Jeffry Fernandez (0-0, 0.00) to the mound on Friday night at 7:05 PM as they attempt to even the series at one. RH Ryan Castellani (0-0, 4.50) takes the hill for the Tourists.
South Atlantic League Stories from April 16, 2015
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