Gonzalez homer, Ravelo highlight-reel play give Drive 6-4 victory over Dash

Bryan Gonzalez launched his team-leading seventh homer of the season and Luis Ravelo secured the final out on a dive and throw to first to beat the runner by tenths of a second to give the Greenville Drive (16-20) their first win of the week’s series with the Winston-Salem Dash (17-190, 6-4.

After a few nights of inconsistency and a lack of momentum at the plate, the Drive bats woke up early scratching across six runs in the first four innings. Abraham Liendo led off with a triple that twisted up Dash right fielder Chris Lanzilli who nearly made the catch as he laid on the ground.

Kristian Campbell singled him home a pitch later.

Tyler Miller extended the lead off hits, rapping a double in the second before Miguel Ugueto sent him home for a 2-0 Drive lead.

Bryan Gonzalez slapped a single in the third before Liendo walked to put two on. Two a-bats later Ronald Rosario slapped a single as the Dash caught Liendo in a pickle at second. Gonzalez raced home and an errant throw to the plate allowed him and LIendo to plate for a 4-0 lead.

While the Drive provided offense, starter Dalton Rogers shut down the Dash bats. Through 4.1 innings of work, he allowed three hits and two runs with three walks while ringing up three, turning in one of his more in-command performances of the season.

Gonzalez launched a two-run shot in the fourth, his second big fly in as many games this series, putting the Drive in front 6-0.

Winston-Salem finally cracked Rogers in the fourth, picking up back-to-back walks to lead off the inning. A double steal put two runners in scoring position before Rogers would pick his final strikeout. Gabriel Jackson would take over on the mound.

Jackson picked up a groundout that scored Jordan Sprinkle to put Winston-Salem on the board. Back-to-back doubles from Shawn Goosenberg and Bryce Willits cut the lead to 6-3 but Jackson hung tough, picking up back-to-back-to-back three-up, three-down innings in the sixth, seventh, and eighth.

The ninth would get dicey for Jackson as he allowed back-to-back singles, the first coupled with a throwing error that put Lanzilli on second. Lanzili would score on an Eddie Park two-out RBI to cut the lead to 6-4.

Jackson would secure the final out on a grounder that nearly snuck through but a diving effort from Luis Ravelo saved the night. He snagged the ball and popped to his feet firing the ball to Bryan Gonzalez to beat a speeding Jacob Gonzalez by tenths of a second.

The Greenville Drive return to action Friday, May 17th for game four of the six-game series with Winston-Salem. The Dash lead the series, 2-1.