After last night’s thrilling series-evening walkoff 3-2 win that came on a 2 out Antonis Macias single in the bottom of the 9th, the Burgers looked to ride the momentum to securing at least a share of the series on Saturday afternoon.
Ismael Agreda (0-0, 11.25 ERA) took to the mound for the Spartanburgers looking to do his part to make that happen opposite a stout right hander from Greenville in Anthony Eyanson (0-0, 3.00), and as has been the case with each of the last 2 games in this series, it started out as a pitching duel.
Eyanson was effective — not showing a particularly explosive fastball, but getting a ton of early swings, averaging in the upper 80s in velocity. He racked up 6 strikeouts through the first three innings while on the other end Agreda had to work through a little traffic.
Yophery Rodriguez led off the game by grounding to Arturo Disla at first base. He tried to flip to Agreda coming to cover, but dropped the ball on the transfer for an error. After rebounding with a strikeout of Yoeilin Cespedes, Ismael issued a walk to Gerardo Rodriguez but ended up leaving both runners on after a K and a pop up to 2nd.
In the 2nd inning, left fielder Nathaniel Yuten dropped a single to right that got by Maxton Martin trying to field it on a hop, unlike Thursday night this time going for a 2 base error. But, first baseman Antonio Anderson grounded to 2nd to leave Yuten on third. The next inning, Greenville once again picked up a 2 out base runner with a base hit from Gerardo Rodriguez, who was stranded after a fly ball to center.
Agreda’s lone three up three down frame came in the 4th, which ended in his 6th strikeout of the day. After starting the 5th with his 7th, he walked Anderson, prompting a call to the bullpen for Luke Savage who gave up a hit to Yophery Rodriguez on his 2nd pitch. But a fly out to center and a force play at 2nd retired the side got Agreda off the hook.
Savage would work one more full inning, working around a leadoff single from Jack Winnay with a lineout to 2nd from Mason White on which Jack was doubled off. Adonys Guzman popped up to 2nd to help Savage face the minimum the unconventional way. In the home half of the 6th, the Burgers finally got their first base runners thanks to a 1 out walk to Cal Stark and a 2 out base on balls to Maxton Martin. But they were left aboard as Gleider Figuereo flied to right to end the inning.
Greenville broke the stalemate in the top of the 7th with some old school small ball of their own, taking advantage of a leadoff walk to Nazzan Zanetello by Paxton Thompson, who started the inning in relief of Savage. Zanetello swiped 2nd and advanced on a deep fly ball to center from Nathaniel Yuten. Antonio Anderson drove him in with a sacrifice fly to left, making for a 1-0 advantage at the stretch.
The Spartanburgers got that run back in the ensuing half inning when Paxton Kling reached on a 2 base throwing error on the pitcher, later taking another 90 feet on a wild pitch before scoring on a 1 out Arturo Disla single. He advanced on a grounder to 1st, but was left in scoring position as Chandler Pollard whiffed to end the inning with the score re-knotted at 1.
Unfortunately for Hub City the pendulum took a massive swing back the other way in the next half inning that was nothing shy of a nightmare. The Drive tagged Paxton Thompson for a 5-spot on 3 hits, 2 walks, an error, and a wild pitch, taking a 6-1 lead to the bottom of the 8th.
In the end, Greenville’s Calvin Bickerstaff shut the Burgers down the rest of the way, striking out three in 2 and two thirds innings to earn the win as the Drive improved to 3-5 while Hub City fell to 2-5.
The series wraps up Sunday afternoon at 4:35 PM as a Spartanburgers arm yet to be determined faces off against the Drive’s right handed Marcus Phillips (0-1, 40.50 ERA). With a win, Hub City can split while with a loss, Greenville would clinch the series.
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