Hicks Shines in Debut, Urias Strikes Out Nine

ASHEVILLE- The Asheville Tourists dropped a close game to the Greenville Drive 3-2 on Friday night. The Tourists nearly pulled out the win with a furious eighth inning rally; however, the Drive narrowly escaped when a three-run Homer was barely foul and a play at the plate went the way of the visitors.

Despite the loss, the game was closely contested throughout thanks to tremendous pitching from Asheville’s James Hicks and Manuel Urias. Hicks made his Tourists debut pitched the first five innings. The right-hander surrendered one run on three hits and did not walk a batter. Urias followed Hicks, pitched four innings, and matched a career-high with nine strikeouts.

The Drive took a 3-0 lead into the eighth inning and that is when the Tourists made their move. Asheville put two runners aboard with one out when Cam Fisher launched a potential game-tying three-run Homer down the right field line.

The ball cleared the wall but was ruled foul. Fisher later walked and Tyler Whitaker hit a Sac Fly to put the Tourists on the board. A few batters later, Austin Deming singled home the second run of the inning but the third and would be tying run was called out at the plate.

Fisher drew four walks in the game while Deming was the lone Tourist with a multi-hit outing. Asheville is back in action on Saturday night with the first pitch scheduled for 6:05pm ET.