Drive Defeated by Fireflies on Tuesday Night

Columbia, SC - Six unanswered runs in the middle innings propelled the Columbia Fireflies to a 6-4 victory over the Greenville Drive in Tuesday's series opener.
The comeback began modestly for the Fireflies (18-25, 52-58), as they scored in the third inning when Hansel Moreno tripled and came in on a groundout by Matt Winaker.
A three-run fourth inning against Jhonathan Diaz (7-8) allowed them to pull ahead for good. Dionis Paulino singled home the tying run, and a Drive (24-21, 49-65) error put the Fireflies up 3-2. Carlos Sanchez added an RBI single in the frame to extend the lead.
An RBI single by Jose Brizuela and a balk put two more runs on the board for Columbia in the fifth.
The rally made a winner out of Tony Dibrell (5-5), who allowed two runs over five and two-third innings with six strikeouts against no walks.
Pedro Castellanos put the Drive up 2-0 in the top of the first with a two-run double to score Ryan Fitzgerald and Marino Campana, who each singled off Dibrell with two outs.
A Columbia error in the top of the eighth brought in two more Drive runs to trim the Fireflies lead to 6-4, but Carlos Hernandez recorded the final five outs for Columbia to notch his fourth save.
Castellanos, Campana and Fitzgerald all collected two hits apiece for the Drive.
Dominic LoBrutto was outstanding in relief of Diaz, allowing just one hit over three and two-third scoreless innings.

Game two of the three-game series begins at 7:05 on Wednesday night in Columbia. Right-hander Eduard Bazardo will make his Drive debut on the mound, and he will face off against Fireflies right-hander Zac Grotz (1-4, 5.89).
~Greenville Drive~