Sacco Clubs Grand Slam in 7-5 Loss

GREENVILLE- The Asheville Tourists dropped their series-opener to the Greenville Drive on Tuesday night by a final score of 7-5. The loss drops the Tourists to 0-2 on the season and moves the Drive to 1-2 after they lost a pair of games at Rome last weekend.

Asheville’s starting pitcher, A.J. Blubaugh, was very impressive in his 3.2 innings pitched. Blubaugh’s lone mistake was a two-run Home Run surrendered with two outs in the third inning. A.J. struck out seven Drive batters in his Tourists debut.

The Asheville offense picked up steam in the top of the fourth inning. Kenedy Corona hit a 412-foot leadoff Home Run to cut the Drive lead to one. In the fifth, the Tourists worked three consecutive walks to load the bases. Tommy Sacco Jr. followed with a Grand Slam over the right-centerfield wall. Asheville led 5-2 after the blast.

Greenville worked their way back into the game with a run in the bottom of the fifth. The Drive then rallied to score four more in the sixth to take a 7-5 lead.

The Tourists put two runners on base in top of the ninth inning for Drew Gilbert, who had already connected with two hits in the game. Gilbert crushed a pitch down the right-field line that hooked foul at the last minute. Had it stayed fair the Tourists would have found themselves in front.

Jacob DeLabio and Max Roberts each worked briefly and successfully out of the Tourists bullpen. Edinson Batista took the loss with five runs allowed in 3.2 innings pitched; however, he ended his day on a positive note with six consecutive Drive hitters retired.

Game two of the current six-game series between the Tourists and Drive is scheduled for Wednesday night at 7:05pm.