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Drive Stun Power with 7-5 Victory

Asuaje's 2-run walkoff homer caps 5-run 9th
May 13, 2014

Greenville, SC - The "Comeback Kids" moniker just might stick with the Greenville Drive (20-15). Thanks to the heroics of Zach Kapstein and Carlos Asuaje, the Drive put up a five-run ninth inning to stun the West Virginia Power (12-26) 7-5 on Tuesday afternoon.

Facing a 5-2 deficit in the bottom of the ninth, the Drive rudely welcomed Power reliever Brett McKinney (1-1) to the game. Bo Greenwell began the inning with an infield single to third, and after a walk to Jordan Weems, Zach Kapstein crushed a three-run homer over the Green Monster to tie the game at five. After a one-out walk to Tzu-Wei Lin, Carlos Asuaje completed the stunning comeback with a walk-off two-run homer to right center to set off a massive celebration at home plate.

The outburst made a winner out of Drive reliever Raynel Velette (2-0) despite allowing four runs in three innings, including the go-ahead two run double by Justin Maffei in the seventh that made the score 3-2. JaCoby Jones added a seventh-inning RBI single to add another run, and an eighth-inning double play plated their fifth run of the game.

The Drive took a 2-0 lead in the fourth against Power starter Dovydas Neverauskas when Wendell Rijo cracked a two-run homer to left.

West Virginia bounced back in the fifth, scoring a run on a Harold Ramirez RBI double and chasing Drive starter Ty Buttrey from the game.

Buttrey rebounded from a tough couple of starts to begin his 2014 season and pitched very well, allowing just one run in four and two-third innings with three strikeouts.

Kapstein went 2-3 with three RBI and Asuaje went 2-5 with two RBI to lead the Drive. Jordan Weems added a pair of hits. Chris Diaz and Erich Weiss each collected two hits for the Power. 

The Drive will hit the road from here, heading to Savannah to play four games and complete a suspended game from April. The Drive and Sand Gnats will complete their suspended game, which is a 3-3 game in the sixth inning, tomorrow at 5:00, with a nine inning game to follow. The Drive pitchers for tomorrow's games are TBA.