Drive Top Power on Mother's Day, 9-6

Greenville, SC - The Greenville Drive (19-14) honored mothers and breast cancer survivors on a Mother's Day Sunday by wearing pink jerseys, and they were able to send everyone at Fluor Field home happy thanks to a 9-6 victory over the West Virginia Power (11-25).

Trailing 5-4 in the sixth inning, the Drive struck for four runs to take the lead for good. Power reliever Miguel Rosario (0-1) fought his control, walking the first three hitters of the inning before being removed. New hurler Will Kendall didn't fool the third and fourth place hitters in the Drive lineup, as Forrestt Allday lined a two-run double to left-center to give the Drive the lead, and Jantzen Witte followed with a single over a drawn-in infield to make the score 7-5. Wendell Rijo then drove home a run on a fielder's choice to tack on another run.

Despite allowing a pair of runs in the top of the sixth on a two-run single by Harold Ramirez, Drive reliever John Ely (1-0) picked up the victory.

Rijo drove in a run in the bottom of the first on a fielder's choice to give the Drive a 1-0 lead. The lead was pushed to 3-0 in the third inning when Kendrick Perkins dumped a two-run single to center against Power starter Cody Dickson.

West Virginia bounced back with a trio of runs in the fourth against Teddy Stankiewicz after Chris Diaz was hit by a pitch with the bases loaded, a wild pitch and an RBI groundout by Justin Maffei.

Jimmy Rider and Allday each doubled in the bottom of the fourth, with Allday's liner to left-center tying the game at three. Rider added an RBI single in the seventh that scored Bo Greenwell, who laced a one-out double.

The Power made Jonathan Aro work for the final three outs in the ninth, as after a JaCoby Jones solo homer with one out, they loaded the bases. Aro rebounded by striking out Diaz looking to end the game and securing his third save of the year.

Allday went 3-3 with three RBI to lead the Drive offense, and Rider collected two hits and scored three times out of the leadoff spot. Perkins and Witte added a pair of hits apiece. Erich Weiss had a three-hit day for West Virginia, while Ramirez, Edwin Espinal and Wyatt Mathisen all chipped in with two hits.

The series continues on Monday Night at Fluor Field, with first pitch set for 7:05. RH Mario Alcantara (1-1, 6.75 ERA) will start for the Drive, and the Power will counter with RH Justin Topa (1-1, 5.00 ERA).