Spartanburg>Greenville

After a convincing 7-3 win to secure no worse than a split in this final series of the season with the Greenville Drive, the Spartanburgers looked to both win the series and the inaugural I-85 rivalry on Sunday afternoon as well as leapfrog into first place by a game.

Hub City turned to Kolton Curtis to try and get it done, but in similar fashion to his last outing, he did not make it out of the first inning. Curtis walked the first 4 batters of the game to give Greenville an early 1-0 lead. After getting a run-scoring fielder’s choice for the first out, he walked another to reload the bases, prompting Chad Comer to make a call to the bullpen for Adrian Rodroguez, who promptly gave up an RBI single to catcher Hudson White before striking out the next 2 to bring a 40 minute top of the first to an end with the Drive up 3-0.

Hub City began the process of chipping away in the bottom half of the frame, starting with a 1 out walk to Maxton Martin, who later stole 2nd and scored on a 2 out Antonis Macias double. Hub City added on in the bottom of the 3rd when Paxton Kling drew a walk and scored from 1st on a first-pitch double that was barely fair down the right field line from Gleider Figuereo. He was doubled off at 2nd on a line drive double play off the bat of John Taylor to end the inning, but it was just a 1 run game.

The Burgers flipped the game in the bottom of the 4th, which started with consecutive walks to Casey Cook and Maxton Martin. After Cook advanced on a balk ahead of Martin’s walk, Maxton swiped 2nd to put 2 in scoring position. A balk scored Cook and gave Martin a free 90, eventually leading to Hub City taking the lead on a wild pitch. With 2 out, Cal Stark singled and then Casey Cook added on with a no doubt 2 run shot over the Burgers’ bullpen in right, making for a 6-3 lead heading to the 5th.

In the interim, Rodriguez worked 2 more clean innings, striking out one more along the way, giving way to Victor Simeon, who also worked 2 innings, albeit not without some drama in the top of the 5th. Franklin Arias led off that frame with a single and with 2 away, Maximus Martin drew a walk to keep the inning alive for Freili Encarnacion, who singled home Arias. Andrew Musett also walked to load the bases, but Simeon got Hudson White swinging to end the rally.

Greenville tipped the seesaw back in their favor off Kai Wynyard in the 6th – an inning in which he walked three and gave up a 4 spot on 1 hit. But the 8-6 lead it gave them was short-lived. Maxton Martin led off the home 6th with a double down the left field line followed by a walk to Ben Hartl. Macias bunted them both over, setting up Cal Stark with an RBI chance. He delivered a base hit to pull the Burgers back within 1 before Dylan Dreiling grounded sharply to 2nd to plate the tying run. Paxton Kling ended up striking out to end the inning, but heading to the 7th, the game was in an 8-8 deadlock.

After both sides traded idle threats, Hub City finally broke through in the bottom of the 8th. Cal Stark was beaned by the first pitch of the frame and was pinch ran for by newcomer Luke Hanson, who later swiped 2nd. With 1 away, Paxton Kling singled on the infield off the pitcher’s ankle to put runners on the corners for Figuereo. Gleider delivered, not in the form of a hit, but an RBI groundout to 2nd scored the go ahead run. John Taylor struck out to end the inning, but the Spartanburgers would need just 3 more outs to take care of business.

Mailon Felix came on and got the save working around a 1 out hit by pitch with 2 strikeouts along the way as the Burgers defeated Greenville 9-8. Adonis Villavicencio was credited with the win after 2 scoreless innings in relief of Wynyard, striking out 1, walking zero, and surrendering just 1 hit.

With this homestand in the books, the Spartanburgers (28-26, 59-60 overall) can celebrate for a day before they make the short trek up I-26 for a 6 game set with the Asheville Tourists. Game one is set for Tuesday night at 6:35 at historic McCormick Field. Pitching Matchups are yet to be determined.