Drive's Ninth Inning Blunder Leads to Tourists 9-8 Win

Asheville, NC--With the bases loaded and two outs in the bottom of the ninth, the Asheville Tourists trailed the Greenville Drive 8-6 at McCormick Field. Tom Murphy was at the plate facing Kyle Kraus and the crowd was roaring with thoughts of the Tourists first walk-off victory this season. 

Murphy hit a long fly ball, deep to right-center field; but as the ball approached the wall it was clear that it did not have enough carry to clear or hit off the barrier. Center-fielder Cody Koback and right-fielder Drew Turocy converged on the warning track as the ball fell from the sky. Koback reached out his glove with Turocy standing right there and the ball fell out of his glove, in-between the two players.

With the runners going on contact Jose Rivera and Juan Ciriaco scored with ease, but Matt Wessinger wanted to score the winning run. Wessinger who started at first base raced around third as Turocy fired the ball in from the outfield. 

Turocy would have had Wessinger, but his throw went clear over the head of catcher Jayson Hernandez. Kraus was backing up the play, caught the ball, then raced towards the plate but Wessinger beat him there and Asheville celebrated the walk-off win. Two Drive errors were charged on the play.

Greenville took an 8-6 lead by scoring twice in the top of the ninth. Tim Roberson clubbed a two-run double off reliever Raul Fernandez to break a 6-6 tie. The Tourists had trailed 6-3 until Derek Jones singled home Rosell Herrera in the sixth and was immediately followed by a Francisco Sosa two-run Home Run. Jones also went deep in the early innings while Greenville's Roberson finished 3-for-5 with five RBI's.

Both starters received no-decisions in Matt Carasiti's Asheville Tourists debut. Carasiti pitched well and struck out five batters in the first four innings, but he ran into some trouble in the fifth. Alving Mejias came in and was able to limit some of the damage.

Asheville will go for a series sweep on Wednesday morning with the second McCormick Field Education Day of the season. The first pitch is scheduled for 11:05 am.