Drive take series with wild Sunday night victory

Drive score three in eighth to down Cyclones

An electric night of baseball and on-field oddities helped send off 2023 regular-season play at Fluor Field as the Greenville Drive (27-33, 63-63) dispatched the Brooklyn Cyclones (34-26, 62-63) in a back-and-forth affair, 9-8.

Greenville’s win marked a series victory as the Drive took four of six games against the Cyclones on the week and officially ended the 2023 regular season at Fluor Field, giving the Drive a 36-30 record at home.

The game did not seem destined for a back-and-forth affair early as the teams combined for just three hits through 3.1 innings. Tyler Miller finally broke the low-hitting deadlock in the fourth, barreling up a single through the right side of the infield to bring in Bryan Gonzalez to give the Drive a 1-0 lead.

After a Kristian Campbell groundout that moved the runners to second and third, Gilberto Jimenez lined a single into right field that scored both runners for a 3-0 lead after the fourth.

But Brooklyn quickly responded in the top of the fifth with two homers, a solo shot from D’Andre Smith and a three-run shot from Ryan Clifford to put the Cyclones in front, 4-3. Greenville would even the game again in the bottom of the fifth thanks to a Gonzalez RBI-single.

Greenville regained the lead in the sixth as Nick Decker turned on the pitch and sent it 408 feet off the bat over the bullpens to make it 6-4. But again, the Cyclones found a way to come back.

In the top of the eighth, Brooklyn picked up three runs via an RBI-double and an RBI-single from Jacob Reimer and Drake Osborn respectively to take a 7-6 lead.

In wild fashion, Gilberto Jimenez’s chopping grounder snuck under the glove of the third baseman scoring Tyler Miller to knot the game. Three batters later Eddinson Paulino slipped a bloop single into right field bringing home Jimenez and Karson Simas to put the Drive up 9-7.

As the game flipped to the top of the ninth, things got weird. After a wild double play on the Paulino RBI-single to end the eighth, Brock Bell slipped off the mound during warm up pitchers and a patron ran from the stands to centerfield and lopped back fro the stands before being stopped and escorted out. Bell would give up a home run to make it 9-8 before he’d get the final two outs to give the Drive the victory.

The Greenville Drive (Boston Red Sox) return to action Tuesday, September 5th for a six-game series with the Aberdeen IronBirds (Baltimore Orioles) to close out the regular season. The Drive return to Fluor Field on September 14th for the SAL Playoffs.