Gonzalez, Liendo knock big flies as Drive down Hickory, 9-1

Bryan Gonzalez lifted his team-leading fifth homer of the year in the fourth inning off the brick building behind the Greenville Green Monster and Ahbram Liendo smacked a 407-ft three-run homer in the eighth as the Greenville Drive (12-16) dispatched the Hickory Crawdads (10-17) 9-1 on Tuesday night’s six-game series opener at Fluor Field.

Drive starter Connelly Early turned in 4.2 innings on the mound, allowing one run on four hits with two walks and five strikeouts; the only run coming via a Alejandro Osuna homer in the top of the fifth.

Early was effective from the start as he worked around back-to-back singles to in the first ringing up the final batter of the inning to prevent any damage. He’d continue to pound the zone with strikes, fanning three straight from the last out of the second to the first two of the third.

He’d evade danger again in the third after putting two on with two outs via a single and a walk as he picked up a soft grounder to first and covered the bag for the out.

With Early dealing, the Drive finally cracked Crawdads’ starter DJ McCarty in the fourth. Juan Chacon singled on a soft grounder, and advanced to second on a wild throw before Eduardo Lopez smacked an RBI-single to put the Drive up 1-0. Gonzalez would add his homer four pitches to put the Drive up 3-0.

Back-to-back one-out doubles from Allan Castro and Ronald Rosario put the Drive ahead 4-1 in the fifth as the ball turned over to reliever Adam Smith. Smith would log 2.1 no-hit innings allowing just a walk while striking out three.

Zach Fogell would work off Smith, tossing one inning; allowing just a hit and walk while striking out one. He’d work around two base runners in the 8th to deny the potential tying run at the plate.

The Drive would load the bases with two out in the eighth allowing Karson Simas to shoot a hard single through the right side of the infield to bring in Rosario and Lopez for a 6-1 lead. Three pitches later Liendo would knock his three-run shot over the bullpens to put the Drive up 9-1.

Isaac Stebens closed the night for the Drive allowing two hits and a walk to load the bases. But he’d pick up two strikeouts and catch the final out on a liner hit back at his feet.

The Drive return to action on May 8th for game two of the six-game series with Hickory at 2:05 p.m. - the Drive’s only daytime weekday game of 2024. Greenville leads the series, 1-0.