Brooklyn Rides Past Drive, 6-1

Greenville, SC – Brooklyn scored runs in each of the first four innings while starter Josh Walker only allowed one run over 5.0 innings en route to a series opening 6-1 victory over the Drive Tuesday night at Fluor Field.

Greenville’s starter, Jay Groome, took the loss. He relented four runs on six hits and two walks with four punchouts. He left after 2.1 innings after being struck by a comebacker off the bat of Hayden Senger.

Walker earned the win by shutting down a hot Drive (2-5) offense, surrendering just four hits and one walk. He fanned seven batters, including six over the first three frames. Walker and the bullpen retired 19 of the final 21 batters. Relievers Dan Goggin and Nick MacDonald didn’t allow a hit over the last four frames.

It didn’t take long for the Cyclones (3-3) to get on the board. After the first two batters reached, Bret Baty lined a two-run double to left-center field. At the end of one inning, the away team held a 2-0 lead.

Brooklyn added to their lead an inning later behind a Joe Genord solo home run to left center, giving the Cyclones a 3-0 advantage.

With another run in the third inning, on a Luke Ritter RBI double down the third baseline, Brooklyn pushed its lead to 4-0.

Greenville got a run back in the bottom half of the inning when Cam Cannon skied a one-out double off the Green Monster and was brought around to score two batters later on a Tyler Esplin RBI single to left. The Drive trailed, 4-1.

However, Brooklyn extended its lead to 6-1 in the fourth after Ronny Mauricio laced a two-run homer to left-center field.

Game two between Greenville and Brooklyn is slated for Wednesday at 7 pm at Fluor Field. The Drive are expected to send right-hander Brian Van Belle to face off against right-hander Jose Butto.