Liendo, Campbell homer but Tourists pull away in eighth for 8-4 victory

Ahbram Liendo knocked his first homer of the season on the first pitch of the ballgame and Kristian Campbell added his second big fly in as many games, but the Asheville Tourists (10-12) would pull away with a three-run eighth inning to take the midday contest on Wednesday in Asheville, 8-4.

The two teams traded runs throughout the afternoon though a two-run sixth and a three-run eighth for the Tourists would prove to be the difference. After the Greenville Drive’s (8-15) Campbell cut the lead to 5-4 with his third blast of the season in the eighth, Asheville responded in kind as Garret Guillemette homered with one out in the bottom of the inning, kickstarting the Tourists insurance-run scoring party.

A Pascanel Ferreras’ single put two on for Luis Baez who promptly rapped a double off the left field wall off reliever Conor Steinbaugh to score both runners and put Asheville up 8-4. Greenville made things interesting in the top of the ninth however as Juan Chacon was hit by a pitch, Miguel Ugueto and Bryan Gonzalez walked to load the bases with one out.

Enderso Lira would go down on strikes and Campbell would ground out to second to end the threat of Campbell, representing the tying run at the plate, and give the Tourists the series-tying victory.

Greenville began the Wednesday morning contest with a bang as Liendo launched his first homer of the season on a shot to center field on the first pitch of the ballgame. Greenville added another run in the second to open up a 2-0 lead off a Tyler Miller groundout which stung pitcher Edinson Batista before third baseman Austin Deming finished off the play by throwing out Miller at first. Juan Chacon scored on the play. Though the Miller hit ricocheted hard off Batista, he’d stay in the game.

And he’d be effective as well, retiring the next eight Drive batters before turning the ball over to reliever Andrew Taylor. Batista’s four innings of work held the Drive to just two runs on two hits. Taylor would prove effective as well, tossing four innings of work allowing three hits, two runs and a walk while ringing up four to earn the victory.

Asheville cut the lead to 2-1 in the second as Deming smacked his first homer of the year off starter Connelly Early. Early would extend his outing to five innings, allowing two runs on three hits with six strikeouts.

Asheville knotted the game on a Jeron Williams homer in the bottom of the fifth before a two-run sixth put the Tourists up 4-2 thanks to a Guillemette RBI-double. Bryan Gonzalez cut the lead to 4-3 on a sac-fly in the seventh but the Tourists would respond again as Baez knocked an RBI-single in the Tourists half of the seventh to make it 5-3.

Reidis Sena tossed 1.1 innings for Greenville, allowing three runs on three hits with a walk and strikeout before turning the ball over to Steinbaugh. Steinbaugh would go 1.2 innings, allowing four hits, three runs, and one walk while fanning three.

In a somewhat interesting note, Early and Steinbaugh combined to hit four batters in the game with pitches, the fifth time in team history that Drive pitching has hit four batters in a game as it previously happened in 2010, 2012, 2017, and 2019. The most batters Drive pitching has hit in the game is six which happened against Rome on August 5, 2022.

Furthermore, Drive batters were hit by a record-tying four pitches in Tuesday’s contest against Asheville, the most this season as well. It’s also the eighth time in team history that Drive batters were hit four times in a game as it previously occurred in 2018, and 2016, 2015, 2012, 2011, 2008, and 2006.

The Greenville Drive return to action tomorrow at 6:35 p.m. at McCormick Field in Asheville for game three of the six-game series. The series is split, 1-1.