Drive pick up first series win on the season with 9-2 thumping of Asheville

A day after being blown out 13-1, the Greenville Drive (11-16) returned the favor to the Asheville Tourists (11-15) with a 9-2 thumping at McCormick Field to pick up their first series win of the season.

Luis Ravelo’s three-run blast in the top of the fifth dug the Drive out of a 2-1 deficit and the Drive never looked back, rattling off five more runs over the course of the sixth and seventh innings.

Karson Simas notched an RBI-single in the seventh after a Ronald Rosario singled, Eduardo Lopez walked, and Caden Rose singled to put the Drive up 5-2. Enderso Lira would follow that up with an RBI-groundout before Rose would come home via a balk and a passed ball would allow Simas to score to make it 8-2.

Tyler Miller added the Drive’s final run on an RBI-double to left field, scoring Allan Castro for the 9-2 lead in the seventh.

While Greenville limited the damage to just two runs, starter Juan Daniel Encarnacion would allow seven hits and two walks but stellar defense behind him, particularly from Simas and Miller, kept the Tourists from exploiting six-straight innings of multiple base runners. In all, the Tourists would leave 10 runners on base, going 2-for-11 at the plate with runners in scoring position.

Encarnacion would go 4.2 innings for the Drive, picking up eight strikeouts — marking the fourth straight start for Encarnacion with at least five strikeouts. Asheville’s two runs would come via an Austin Deming RBI-single in the second and a Pascanel Ferreras go-ahead RBI-single in the fourth.

Greenville’s early run came off the bat of Ronald Rosario whose RBI-double plated Castro for a 1-0 lead.

Gabriel Jackson would take over in relief with two outs in the fifth, allowing two hits and one walk while striking out two across the nine batters he faced.

Reidis Sena would chip in his best outing of the season, tossing one-hit baseball in the eighth and ninth innings, picking up a strikeout along the way as the Drive stifled Asheville to take the series finale.

The Drive return home to Fluor Field on May 7th for the start of a six-game series with the Hickory Crawdads (Texas Rangers). First pitch is slated for 7:05 p.m.