Brannon powers Greenville to series-clinching 8–7 win over Winston-Salem on Easter Sunday

Brannon powers Greenville to series-clinching 8–7 win over Winston-Salem on Easter Sunday

GREENVILLE, S.C. — Brooks Brannon belted a pair of home runs and drove in five as the Greenville Drive rallied past the Winston-Salem Dash 8–7 on Easter Sunday to claim a tightly contested series at Fluor Field.

Trailing 4–0 in the fourth inning, Brannon got the Drive (7–7) on the board with a two-run homer to right-center, then capped a five-run fifth with a three-run blast to left-center that flipped the game in Greenville’s favor for good.

Winston-Salem (5–10) jumped out early with a pair of runs in each of the third, fourth, and fifth innings, aided by a triple from Sam Antonacci and an RBI double from Terrell Tatum. The Dash capitalized on defensive miscues and a wild pitch to build their lead, chasing Greenville starter Jedixson Paez after four innings.

Erik Rivera (1–0) earned the win despite allowing two runs over three innings in relief. Darvin Garcia notched his first save, working the final two innings and stranding the tying run on third with the bases loaded in the ninth.

Brannon finished 3-for-4, while Zach Ehrhard went 2-for-4 with a double and an RBI single. Miguel Bleis added a run-scoring double in the fifth.

Dash starter Seth Keener allowed four runs over 4 1/3 innings before Connery Peters (0–1) surrendered Brannon’s second homer and took the loss.

Greenville added what proved to be the game-winning run in the seventh when Nazzan Zanetello walked, stole second and took third on the wild throw, and later scored on another errant pitch from Joseph Yabbour.

The win secured the series for the Drive and pushed them to the .500 mark for the first time this season.

The Drive will travel down the road to the Hub City Spartanburgers beginning Tuesday, April 22, for a 6 game Upstate series.