Granberg's Big Night Too Much for the Tourists

GREENVILLE- The Asheville Tourists were put on their heels from the start on Friday night. The Greenville Drive scored six runs over the first three innings and held a 9-2 lead after five. Asheville settled in over the last four innings; however, the fast Greenville start netted the home team a 10-3 win.

Devlin Granberg paced the Drive with a 4-for-4 performance that included a Home Run and three doubles. Tyler Esplin and Tyreque Reed both added three hit performances as part of a 14-hit outburst by the Drive. Asheville’s offense totaled nine hits in the contest but only one came with runners in scoring position.

Alex McKenna’s fifth inning solo Home Run, his sixth long ball this season, put Asheville on the scoreboard. A.J. Lee doubled in the seventh and scored on a two-out RBI single by Enmanuel Valdez. McKenna added a sacrifice fly in the ninth which accounted for the Tourists final run. Asheville received hits from eight of their nine players including a pair of singles by Korey Lee who returned to the lineup after a five-game absence.

Michael Horrell did a nice job out of the bullpen. Horrell retired seven of the ten batters he faced and limited the Drive to one run. Matt Ruppenthal pitched the final four innings of the game and struck out four.

The Tourists’ road record this season sits at 2-8 and the team has lost five of their last six games overall. Fortunately, a five-game win streak prior to the current stretch still has Asheville hovering around .500 and only 3.5 games out of first place in the division.