Greenville Clinches Series With 8-3 Win Over Hickory 

Greenville, S.C. – Greenville overcame an early two-run deficit to take the lead in the middle innings and then put the Crawdads away late to win, 8-3, Sunday afternoon at Fluor Field.

The Drive won the series, 4-2.

They combined for 15 hits, six doubles, one triple and three homers. Nick Yorke and Christian Koss led the way with three hits apiece. Yorke went 3-for-5 with a solo homer, two doubles, three runs and two RBI. Koss also went 3-for-5 with a double, triple, a run and RBI. He extended his hit streak to 14.

Four players tallied two hits: Tyler Dearden, Joe Davis, Stephen Scott and Wil Dalton. Davis hit his eighth homer. Dearden tallied an RBI on a single. Dalton registered two doubles.

Jay Groome picked up the win, his third of the year. He tossed 6.0 innings and allowed three runs on eight hits, one homer and one walk with eight strikeouts. Brendan Cellucci and Oddanier Mosqueda each picked up a hold while both hurling 1.0 shutout inning with two strikeouts. Jake Wallace pitched the ninth and fanned two.

Adam McKillican was charged with the loss in relief. He relented two runs over 1.2 innings.

The Crawdads took a 2-0 lead in the second inning behind a Frainyer Chavez two-run double.

Greenville cut the lead in half in the bottom of the second. Davis drew a one-out walk and got to third on a Scott double off the Green Monster. After an out Dalton grounded a ball to second. The keystone’s throw went wide, allowing Dalton to reach safely and Davis to score.

An inning later the Drive evened the score at 2-2. Yorke began the inning with a leadoff double that banged off the Green Monster. A batter later, Koss lined an RBI doubled that two hopped the Green Monster.

The home team scored two more runs in the fourth inning. Dalton led off with a double. Brannen followed and laid down a fielder’s choice, sac bunt to put runners at first and third. Yorke then doubled to bring home Dalton. Two baters later, Dearden grounded a ball through the left side for an RBI to give the Drive a 4-2 lead.

Hickory got a run back in the top of the sixth to make it 4-3 on a Trevor Hauver solo homer.

However, Greenville got that run back on a lead off homer by Davis, his eighth of the year. It traveled 405 ft and left the bat at 104 MPH.

The Drive plated three more runs the following frame. Yorke led off with his second homer of the year. The ball went 410 ft. and left the bat at 106 MPH. The next batter, Koss, lined a triple to the left-center gap. He came around to score on a throwing error on the play. After a strikeout, Howlett obliterated a ball off the New York Life building in left over the Green Monster for his 14th of the year.

After an off-day, the Drive will host the Asheville Tourists, affiliate of the Houston Astros, for a six-game series beginning Tuesday at 4:30 with the completion of a rain-shortened game earlier in the year at Asheville. The second game, and first game of this series, will begin no earlier than 7:05.