Fourth Inning Rally Dooms Tourists in Loss to Drive

GREENVILLE- One big inning did the Asheville Tourists in on Thursday night. The Greenville Drive scored five of their six runs in the fourth and held on to defeat the Tourists 6-3 in game one of the season's second half.
After the Drive rallied for an unearned run in the bottom of the first inning, Asheville tied the score with a run in the top of the fourth. Bret Boswell led off the frame with a double and Ryan Vilade singled home the tying run.

In the bottom of the fourth, Greenville hit back-to-back Home Runs with one out. That started a stretch of seven consecutive hits followed by a walk; all against Tourists starter Antonio Santos . When the inning ended Asheville was behind 6-1.
The game changed a bit in the seventh. The Tourists began to take a more patient approach at the plate and put together a couple late rallies. After Ramon Marcelino worked a walk in the seventh, Shael Mendoza hit an RBI triple to make it 6-2. Matt McLaughlin followed with an RBI double to bring the Tourists within three.
Asheville put together some good at bats in the eighth and ninth innings as well but could not sustain a run-scoring rally. Erick Julio entered the game in the bottom of the sixth and tossed three scoreless innings out of the bullpen. Julio struck out seven of the 11 batters he faced and Greenville only managed a pair of singles off the Tourists reliever. Julio has surrendered only one run over his last 16 innings pitched.