GREENVILLE (Greenville Drive) — The Greenville Drive erased a one-run deficit with two runs in the eighth inning Sunday afternoon, beating the Bowling Green Hot Rods 4-3 at Fluor Field at the West End to secure a split of the six-game series.
Greenville (6-9) won its third straight game and closed the homestand on a high note after dropping the first three games of the series. Bowling Green fell to 9-6.
The Drive jumped in front early with a two-out rally in the second. Mason White started it with a ground-rule double to right, and Isaiah Jackson followed by drawing a walk. After Freili Encarnacion was hit by a pitch to load the bases and Natanael Yuten struck out, Justin Gonzales delivered the big hit, lining a single up the middle to bring home White and Jackson for a 2-0 Greenville lead.
That edge held through four innings behind right-hander Marcus Phillips, who turned in one of his sharper outings of the young season. Phillips struck out seven over 3 2/3 scoreless innings, allowing just two hits and one walk. He worked around traffic in the first, second and third innings and left with Greenville still in control after recording two outs in the fourth.
Bowling Green finally broke through in the fifth against reliever Austin Ehrlicher. Jose Perez opened the inning with a single, and Émilien Pitre followed with a walk. After Nathan Flewelling flied out to center, Narciso Polanco was hit by a pitch to load the bases. Tony Santa Maria then shot a two-run single up the middle to score Perez and Pitre, tying the game at 2-all. Moments later, Santa Maria stole second and Polanco stole home on the same sequence, giving the Hot Rods a 3-2 lead.
That swing of momentum threatened to send Greenville toward another tight loss, but the Drive bullpen stabilized the game from there. Calvin Bickerstaff was excellent in relief, holding Bowling Green scoreless over 3 1/3 innings. He allowed three hits, walked two and struck out two, stranding runners in the seventh and eighth to keep the deficit at one.
Bowling Green’s bullpen matched that work for much of the afternoon. After starter Anderson Brito was chased in the second, Kaleb Corbett and Cade Citelli combined to keep Greenville off the board through the middle innings. Citelli worked around a hit batter and a throwing error, and Jonathan Russell recorded a quick seventh before the Hot Rods turned to Jacob Kmatz in the eighth.
Jack Winnay opened the eighth with a walk, and White’s foul popout left the Drive down to two outs to work with. Jackson then lined a single to right-center, moving Winnay to third. Antonio Anderson followed with a sacrifice fly to left, scoring Winnay to tie the game at 3-3. Yuten came through immediately after, singling to center to plate Jackson and put Greenville back in front, 4-3.
The late rally completed a comeback that had seemed unlikely during a quiet stretch in which the Drive went scoreless from the third through the seventh innings.
Bickerstaff returned for the ninth and retired Pitre on a groundout before Flewelling drew a walk. That brought on P.J. Labriola, who got Polanco to ground out and then struck out Santa Maria swinging to end it and earn his first save.
Gonzales finished 2 for 5 with two RBIs, while White went 2 for 4 with a double and scored once. Jackson also scored twice and reached base twice, and Yuten delivered the game-winning RBI. Greenville totaled seven hits and went 2 for 7 with runners in scoring position.
Santa Maria drove in two of Bowling Green’s three runs, and the Hot Rods managed seven hits of their own, but they went just 1 for 10 with runners in scoring position and left 10 men on base.
The win gave Greenville its second series split of the season and capped a dramatic turnaround after the Drive had fallen behind three games to none earlier in the week.
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