Hub City Claims Series Against Drive in Greenville

Hub City came into Sunday’s finale in Greenville with a lot on the line. The Spartanburgers were going for their 4th straight win, their first series win against the Drive of the season, and a .500 record. Dj McCarty (0-1, 11.74 ERA) who did not make it out of the first inning in his last start a week ago in the 2nd game of the tough double header against Winston-Salem, was also looking for some redemption going opposite Greenville right hander Marcus Phillips (0-1, 4.22).

Things got off to a great start for DJ, as he retired each of the first 4 batters he faced before beaning Jack Winnay with 1 out in the bottom of the 2nd. Hub City also managed to get an early base runner off Phillips when Arturo Disla singled with 1 away in the top of the 1st, but he was later erased on a 4-6-3 double play off the bat of Rafe Perich.

The game became a pitchers duel through the top of the 4th inning when Hub City cashed in a one out walk to Disla with a 2 run shot from Perich — the first of three straight hits and 5 RBIs across a 3 for 4 day at the dish, giving the Burgers a 2-0 lead heading to the home half of the frame.

After McCarty left 2 more runners on, the Burgers bats extended the lead in the top of the 5th. Quincy Scott II started the rally with a leadoff base hit. The Burgers would then go on to load the bases when Carter Garate was hit by a pitch and Chandler Pollard worked a walk. Antonis Macias kept the line moving with an RBI single, but would be cut down on a run-scoring 5-4-3 twin killing off the bat of Disla. Perich would cap the rally by collecting his 2nd straight hit in the form of an RBI single, making for a 5-0 Burgers lead.

The Drive finally struck McCarty for 2 runs in the ensuing half inning with a little help from a costly error on Gleider Figuereo. Yophery Rodriguez drew a walk with one out and Justin Gonzales followed with a high chopper almost over Gleider’s head at third. Figuereo threw to 2nd trying to force the lead runner, but his quick toss went wild and all the way to the first base dugout railing, allowing Rodriguez to score and Gonzales to go all the way to third. That ended the day for McCarty after 3.1 innings, having struck out 4, walked one, and given up 2 unearned runs after Mailon Felix came on to relieve and allowed another  run to come across on a groundout to second from Henry Godbout, trimming the advantage to 5-2 heading to the 6th.

Greenville would deal another big blow in the bottom of the 6th after Felix issued a 1 out base on balls to Winnay and a single to Isaiah Jackson. Mason White would follow with a game-tying three run homer out of right, but Felix bounced back by striking out Freili Encarnacion, after which Mailon was given the hook and replaced after an inning and a third in which he struck out 1, walked one, and gave up 2 hits. Seth Clark came in and gave up a single to Yophery Rodriguez, but he struck out Gonzales to get out of the frame with the game knotted at 5.

It did not take long for the Spartanburgers to get the lead back as in the ensuing half inning, Rafe Perich struck once more. Garate led off with a two-bagger to the right field corner and with 2 out, Disla drew his second walk of the day to cap a 1 for 2 game. Arturo would come home to score his 2nd run of the day when Perich drilled a pitch high off the top of the fence in center that ricocheted halfway back towards the infield before it was finally picked up, allowing Perich to go all the way to third and plating 2 runs.

Perich’s clutch triple made it 7-5 in favor of Hub City, which held the rest of the way as Jesus Gamez and Cole Stasio combined to toss three shutout frames. Gamez struck out 5 and allowed just 1 hit and a walk in 2 innings for the hold while Cole Stasio worked a clean 9th to earn the save in a huge series win for Hub City.

The Spartanburgers (13-13) will have Monday off before welcoming the Wilmington Blue Rocks – who they won the series with 2 weeks ago in Delaware, to Fifth Third Park for a 6 game set. It all begins Tuesday night at 6:35 as the Gusanos de Mezcal del Burg take to the diamond for the first time. Pitching matchups for the opener have yet to be announced.