The Greenville Drive returned home to pick up where they left off with a 12-6 victory over the Hudson Valley Renegades. Their eighth win in a row puts them in second place in second-half standings. The Drive improves to 46-54, while the Renegades falls to 47-54. In the second-half standings, Greenville is now 20-17, while Hudson Valley is 17-20.
Alex Bouchard came in as tonight’s starter and saw 14 Hudson Valley batters, giving up no runs in 3.2 innings and striking out half of them to match his season-high strikeouts.
An RBI double by Justin Gonzales broke the scoreless trend in the third and gave the Drive an early one-run jump ahead. The Renegades exchanged homers in the fourth after Kyle West sent one out as well for Hudson Valley’s first run of the night. A bases-loaded pickle opened the door for Nazzan Zanetello to get an RBI single, and Gonzales kept the line moving to score Ronny Hernandez on a fielder's choice, 6-1.
A pair of runs for the Renegades off RBI singles put them halfway to the tie in the fifth. However, more traffic on the basepaths allowed the Drive to walk in two runs, making it 8-3. Gonzales then blew it wide open, driving a couple runners across to get Greenville to double digits with ten runs. Jake Schaffner scored one more on a check-swing grounder to make it 11-3 before the sixth.
Trennor O’Donnell came in for reliever Griffin Kilander, and after picking up two strikeouts in the sixth, he ran into trouble in the next inning. Three runs for the Renegades doubled their score, 11-6, due to some situational hitting during a bases-loaded jam for O’Donnell.
Antonio Anderson switched the momentum back over to the Drive on a leadoff bomb to put the Drive up by six in the seventh. Steven Brooks then entered the game in the eighth once O’Donnell picked up the first two outs of the inning, getting out of that frame clean and securing the win with a 1-2-3 ninth.
The Drive’s travels and rest day did not shake them off their game with eight consecutive wins now, producing 77 runs in their last seven games. Gonzales had a 2-for-4 night, hitting two doubles, scoring a run, and bringing in four. Anderson reached all four times tonight with two hits, two walks, three runs scored, and his solo shot. Hernandez also walked three straight times. Hull finished 2-for-5, including his three-run homer in his Fluor Field debut.
The Renegades got nine hits tonight, going 5-for-17 with runners in scoring position. Jackson Lovich went 2-for-5 with two runs and two RBIs, and West had three hits, one run, two RBIs, and his homer.
Franyer Herrera was charged with Tuesday’s loss, giving up six runs on three hits. Brooks earned his fourth win, lasting 1.1 innings with no damage to show for it.
The Greenville Drive plays game two against the Hudson Valley Renegades tomorrow with first pitch at 6:45 PM. The Drive will host the 21st annual Green Day in celebration of Greenville’s 195th birthday. The team will gear up in the green uniforms, and fans will be given green capes and T-Shirts to wear around the ballpark. Fans can enjoy birthday fireworks at the end of the game, presented by TD.