‘Hoppers stun Drive, 6-5 on walk off homer in the ninth

A night after the Greenville Drive (1-1) scored five unanswered to down the Greensboro Grasshoppers (1-1), the ‘Hoppers responded in turn, stringing together six runs in the final two frames to squash a 5-0 Drive lead and even the Opening Weekend series at one game apiece.

Hudson Head’s 3-run homer in the bottom of the ninth sealed the 6-5 victory for the ‘Hoppers erasing what had been to that point, a fairly dominating pitching performance from the Drive. Starter Connelly Early spun four shutout innings, relinquishing just one hit and one walk while ringing up six. Cooper Adams’ followed up Early’s success with a three-inning-one-hit relief effort before turning the ball over to Reidis Sena.

Sena’s night would not be as fortunate as his predecessors, as the ‘Hoppers battered him for two three-run home runs including Head’s walk-off in the ninth and Lonnie White Jr.’s blast in the eighth inning which cut the Drive lead to 5-3.

Despite the 5-0 lead early on, much of the Drive’s scoring was the result of ‘Hoppers’ miscues as a wild pitch in the second scored Ronald Rosario, and an error-riddled attempt to gun down a stealing Allan Castro allowed Karson Simas to score in the third for a 2-0 Drive lead.

In the fourth, Simas drew a walk on a passed ball by the ‘Hopper’s Geovanny Planchart with the bases loaded allowing Eduardo Lopez to cross the plate to make it 3-0. Ahbram Liendo, who turned in a three-hit performance in the previous night’s game, followed up Simas’s walk with a soft single to third being bringing in Enderso Lira to boost the lead to 4-0.

Newcomer Caden Rose increased the Drive’s lead to 5-0 in the sixth with his first homer of the year before Greensboro turned the tide in the final two innings.

The Drive return to action tomorrow at 2:00 p.m. against the ‘Hoppers, looking to close out Opening Weekend with a series victory. The series between the two is currently tied at one game apiece.