Fireflies Top Drive 7-3, Now on Four-Game Win Streak
By: Greenville Drive
Greenville, SC (Drive PR) — It was déjà vu all over again at Fluor Field on Saturday night, as the Greenville Drive were done in by a big ninth inning for the Columbia Fireflies in a 7-3 loss in front of 5,799 fans at Fluor Field.
Trailing 3-2 in the final frame, the Fireflies (10-7) erupted for five runs against Kuehl McEachern (1-1). A hit by pitch and a single put two runners on, and Vinny Siena singled to right field with one out to tie the game up.
McEachern got a strikeout to move one out away from escaping, but Tucker Tharp followed with the go-ahead single, and Jeff Diehl then cranked a three-run homer over the Green Monster for good measure.
The rally made a winner out of Seth Davis (1-0), who held the Drive (9-8) hitless over the final two and one-third innings.
A two-run bottom of the first gave the Drive an early start against Fireflies starter Tyler Badamo. Joseph Monge began the inning with a double to left-center and came home two batters later when Michael Chavis grounded a double to left. During Josh Ockimey’s at-bat, Chavis showed heads up baserunning by scoring all the way from second on a wild pitch.
Columbia struck for a run against Anderson Espinoza in the fourth and chased the young right-hander from the game after throwing 74 pitches. Diehl drew a walk to begin the inning, moved to second on a wild pitch and came in on a double by Vicente Lupo.
A sixth-inning double by Luis Alexander Basabe plated Kyri Washington to push the Drive’s lead to 3-1, but Columbia got that run back in the seventh on a sacrifice fly by Siena.
Washington extended his hitting streak to seven games with a fourth-inning double. Siena continued to be a thorn in the side of Greenville pitching, going 2-4 with a pair of RBI.
The Drive will send left-hander Logan Boyd (2-1, 3.86) to the mound on Sunday at Fluor Field as they look to avoid being swept in the four-game series. First pitch is scheduled for 4:05 PM, and the Fireflies will start right-hander Joe Shaw (2-0, 1.50).
