Drive Win SAL Championship Opener in Extras
Kannapolis, NC - Extra innings are nothing new to the Greenville Drive in 2017, and their experience showed in game one of the South Atlantic League Championship Series on Tuesday, as they scored twice in the top of the 13th inning to notch an 8-7 win over the Kannapolis Intimidators.The
Kannapolis, NC - Extra innings are nothing new to the Greenville Drive in 2017, and their experience showed in game one of the South Atlantic League Championship Series on Tuesday, as they scored twice in the top of the 13th inning to notch an 8-7 win over the Kannapolis Intimidators.
The winning rally began when
That second run proved to be huge, as the Intimidators made things interesting in the bottom half of the 13th when Mitch Roman delivered an RBI single to cut the Drive's lead to 8-7.
The Drive jumped out to a 3-0 lead early in the game.
Kannapolis answered in the bottom of the second with three runs to tie the game. Jake Burger's RBI double put the Intimidators on the board, and they also received an RBI single from Mitch Roman and a sacrifice fly by Casey Schroeder in the inning.
The game became a seesaw affair as it progressed. The teams traded runs in the fourth, as Netzer delivered a run-scoring single in the top half that was countered by an RBI hit from Roman in the bottom half.
The Intimidators took the lead in the sixth on an RBI triple by Alex Call, who collected three hits and fell a home run shy of the cycle.
The lead went right back to the Drive in the top half of the eighth, as Aybar led off with a single and came all the way in on Espinal's double to center to tie the game. Dalbec then singled home Espinal later in the inning to put Greenville back ahead. Kannapolis quickly countered in the bottom half, however, as Burger's RBI double knotted the game up at six, where it stayed until extras.
Espinal's five-hit night paced the offense, and he became the second Drive player to record five hits in a game this season, joining
Game two of the South Atlantic League Championship Series begins at 7:05 on Wednesday night in Kannapolis. The Drive look to extend the series lead with left-hander
~Greenville Drive~
[Empty Body]