Drive Take Out GreenJackets 7-2 in Series Opener

Greenville, SC - Following a big win in Tuesday's series finale in Asheville, the Greenville Drive (23-21) kept the momentum going, receiving key contributions across the entire team to grab a 7-2 victory over the Augusta GreenJackets (22-24) on Thursday night.

The pitching efforts of Myles Smith (1-2) and Jonathan Aro were instrumental in the win. Smith spun a terrific outing in his second start of the season, allowing just one earned run in five innings and striking out four. Aro followed with four scoreless innings and five strikeouts to pick up his fourth save of the year.

The Drive took the lead for good in the bottom of the fourth after entering the frame down 2-1. Jake Romanski began the frame with a single and moved to third on Manuel Margot's double to right. Kendrick Perkins followed with an RBI groundout to tie the game, and Jimmy Rider singled back through the box to make the score 3-2.

Two more runs in the fifth pushed the score to 5-2, as Jantzen Witte laced an RBI double to right and Margot reached on an error to score another run.

Forrestt Allday added an RBI single in the sixth, and Zach Kapstein's RBI triple in the eighth brought home the final run of the evening.

The GreenJackets scored both of their runs against Smith in the second, with back-to-back doubles by Ryan Tuntland and Eric Sim scoring the first run and a throwing error bringing home the second.

Witte also had an RBI single in the third inning and collected two hits and two RBIs for the Drive on Thursday. Allday and Rider joined him with two hits apiece. Rafael Rodriguez had a pair of hits to lead Augusta.

Game two of the series begins on Friday at 7:05, with Fluor Field's famous fireworks to follow the game. RH Joe Gunkel (1-0, 1.50) will make his first start of the season for the Drive, and the GreenJackets will counter with LH Matt Lujan (5-1, 1.43).