Pitching key again as Drive hold on for 2-1 win in Aberdeen

For the second consecutive night, Greenville Drive pitching carried the game, as the trio of Noah Dean, Jedixson Paez, and Adam Smith combined for 12 strikeouts and one run as the Drive (26-19, 52-59) stalled the Aberdeen IronBirds (57-54) 2-1 on Thursday night at Leidos Field at Ripken Stadium, 2-1.

Dean, the lefty out of Old Dominion, made his first start for the Drive after piggybacking in his last two appearances since being called up to Greenville back on July 23rd. He dominated from the outset, holding the IronBirds hitless through 3 ⅓ innings, eventually departing the game after the fourth, racking up a total of seven strikeouts on the night. He allowed one hit and a lone walk.

While Dean shoved, the Drive lineup struggled at the plate. The lineup accounted for just four hits on the night, all coming from the three, four, and five hole hitters — Zach Ehrhard, Bryan Gonzalez, and Hudson White. Ehrhard would be the lone batter to record a multi-hit night. Both Gonzalez and White picked up a walk each.

Miguel Ugueto gave the Drive the early lead in the second, sending a one-out sac-fly to left field to reward a Gonzalez single to leadoff the inning and his successive steal of second.

Miguel Bleis reached first with one away in the third after taking a pitch off his back, stole second and made it to third on Ehrhard’s first single of the night to put runners on the corners. Gonzalez notched his RBI with a chopping grounder to the left side of the infield, just deep enough to get Bleis home from third to give Greenville a 2-0 lead.

The Drive offense stalled over the next 5 ⅓ innings, failing to pick up a hit.

Paez was up for the task in his piggyback outing, allowing one run on five hits through four innings of relief in which he rang up four. Paez held firm in his outing, working around multiple run scoring situations for the IronBirds before cracking in the eighth.

After a leadoff fly, Paez allowed a triple to Douglas Hodo III and promptly an RBI-single to Jake Cunningham to cut the lead to just one run. But Paez limited the damage by working a fly ball out and a strikeout.

Greenville turned to Adam Smith in the ninth to close out the victory. After allowing a leadoff single, Smith picked up a strikeout, a pop up and a groundout to preserve the Drive’s second consecutive win.

The Drive return to action tomorrow at 7:00 p.m. for game four of the six-game series with Aberdeen. The Drive lead the series, 2-1.