Drive fall 6-5 to ‘Hoppers in extras

Blaze Jordan: 2-for-5, 2B, HR, 4 RBI

The Greenville Drive (33-27) fell in a heartbreaker to the Greensboro Grasshoppers (32-25) 6-5 in 10 innings Thursday night, coming up short in the back-and-forth affair at Fluor Field. But despite the loss, the Drive remain a 0.5 game back of the Winston-Salem Dash for first place in the South Atlantic League South Division standings as the Asheville Tourists dispatched the Dash, 16-3.

The Drive’s Blaze Jordan turned in a good night at the plate, going 2-for-5 with a double and home run for 4 RBI, bolstering the Drive’s efforts all game. He didn’t wait long to make his presence felt, sending a two-out blast over the left center field wall to give the Drive an early 1-0 lead in the first inning he’d follow up with a double down the left field line scoring Alex Erro and Roman Anthony to make it 3-0 in the third.

Unlike the past few teams to face starter Isaac Coffey, the ‘Hoppers seemed to find a rhythm at the plate, notching nine hits (the most Coffey has given up all year) and three runs in Coffey’s 5.2 innings of work.

The ‘Hoppers runs would come courtesy of a wild pitch from Coffey in the fourth and a Ernny Ordonez two-run homer in the fifth, knotting the game at 3-3. But again, Jordan would provide another RBI in the bottom of the fifth; this time off a groundout that was enough to score Paulino, giving the Drive a 4-3 lead.

Coffey would be relieved after two outs in the sixth as reliever Jordan DiValerio took over. Coffey would finish the night with eight strikeouts. The ‘Hoppers knotted the game in the seventh off DiValerio on a grounder to third base that got the runner at second but couldn’t be turned in time to get the inning ending double-play.

Greensboro would take the lead in the eighth as Shawn Ross homered on a fly ball to left center field, making it 5-4. But the Drive didn’t go quietly as they pounced in the bottom of the ninth, as three consecutive singles, the last from Eduardo Lopez brought Tyler Miller home for the tying run.

The ‘Hoppers, however, would be the benefactors in extras as a leadoff double from Shawn Ross scored the ghost runner from second giving the ‘Hoppers a 6-5 lead. The Drive would get ghost runner, Karson Simas to third on balk but would fail to get him home for the tying run, giving the ‘Hoppers a 6-5 victory.

The Drive (Boston Red Sox) return to action tomorrow at 7:05 p.m. at Fluor Field for game four of the six-game series against the Greensboro Grasshoppers (Pittsburgh Pirates.) The series favors the ‘Hoppers, 2-1.