Tourists Slug Past Drive on Saturday

Asheville, NC - The Asheville Tourists offense struck early and often on Saturday night to defeat the Greenville Drive 10-5 in the series opener, snapping the Drive's four-game winning streak in the process.

A three-run bottom of the first by the Tourists (11-4, 38-46) erased an early 1-0 deficit that was brought about by Marino Campana's sacrifice fly in the top half. Bret Boswell reached on an error and later scored on a wild pitch by Enmanuel De Jesus (2-2), and Todd Czinege lined a two-run triple to center.
The Drive (8-9, 33-53) got a run back thanks to a solo homer by Kervin Suarez leading off the second, but RBI singles in the bottom half by Ryan Vilade and Chad Spanberger extended the lead to 5-1.
The next three Asheville runs came home via the long ball, as Ramon Marcelino blasted a two-run homer in the third and Czinege cracked a solo shot in the fifth.
Their final runs came in after a Spanberger RBI double in the sixth and a Casey Golden sacrifice fly in the eighth.
Ryan Fitzgerald cut the Tourists lead to 10-5 with a three-run homer in the ninth that scored Frankie Rios, who reached on a fielder's choice, and Tanner Nishioka, who singled.
Garrett Schilling (4-3) got the win for Asheville by allowing just one earned run in five innings.
Game two of the three-game series begins at 2:05 on Sunday afternoon in Asheville. Left-hander Jhonathan Diaz (4-5, 3.66) takes the mound for the Drive, and the Tourists will counter with right-hander Will Gaddis (4-4, 5.08), a former standout at Furman.
~Greenville Drive~