Drive Hold on to Defeat Legends on Sunday

Hart keys victory with four scoreless innings of relief

(Gwinn Davis)

By Cameron White

July 9, 2017

Lexington, KY - Behind a stellar performance in relief from Kyle Hart and a pair of big innings, the Greenville Drive came away with a 6-5 victory over the Lexington Legends on Sunday afternoon.Hart (3-2) entered the game with the score tied at four in the fifth, and he earned

Lexington, KY - Behind a stellar performance in relief from Kyle Hart and a pair of big innings, the Greenville Drive came away with a 6-5 victory over the Lexington Legends on Sunday afternoon.
Hart (3-2) entered the game with the score tied at four in the fifth, and he earned the win for the Drive (6-11, 47-39) by holding the Legends (10-7, 44-42) offense at bay for four innings. The southpaw allowed just one hit and struck out two without issuing a walk.
The Drive broke the 4-4 tie in the sixth against Vance Tatum (2-1). Mitchell Gunsolus singled and moved to third on a double by Isaias Lucena, and two batters later, Steven Reveles delivered a go-ahead infield single. A Lexington error on the next play allowed Lucena to come home from third for the sixth run.

Marten Gasparini swatted a one-out solo homer in the bottom of the ninth to cut the Drive lead to one, but Matthew Gorst rebounded to strike out the next two Legends swinging to end the game. The save was Gorst's second of the year.
Lexington jumped out to a 3-0 lead in the bottom of the first off Darwinzon Hernandez. A two-out RBI triple by Emmanuel Rivera put the Legends on the scoreboard, and Gabriel Cancel followed with a two-run homer to left.
The Drive rebounded in the third by putting up a four-spot. Reveles reached on an error and later scored on a wild pitch for the first run. Tyler Hill's RBI double shaved the Lexington lead to one, and that was followed by a two-run blast from Roldani Baldwin, who became the first Drive player to reach double digit homers in 2017.
Rivera tied the game up at four in the bottom of the third with an RBI single.
Baldwin went 2-4 with two RBI in the game, and Gunsolus and Lorenzo Cedrola added two hits apiece. Gasparini, Rivera and Khalil Lee all notched two hits for Lexington.
The Drive will go for the series victory at 7:05 on Monday night in Lexington. Left-hander Jay Groome (1-1, 12.79) takes the mound for the Drive looking to build off a five-inning scoreless start in his last appearance, and the Legends will counter with left-hander Garrett Davila (6-3, 5.62).