Hot Rods outlast Drive in 9-8 slugfest in Greenville

Greenville, South Carolina – Nathan Flewelling and Tony Santa Maria both went deep, while the Bowling Green Hot Rods (9-3) tied a franchise record with eight steals in a game, in a 9-8 win in an offensive marathon against the Greenville Drive (3-9) on Thursday at Fluor Field in Greenville, South Carolina.

After two scoreless innings to start the game, Greenville jumpstarted the scoring in the bottom of the third against Bowling Green starter Gary Gill Hill. Yophery Rodriguez led off the inning with a solo homer. Two outs later, Henry Godbout and Gerardo Rodriguez hit back-to-back base hits, and Yoeilin Cespedes cleared the bases with a three-run homer, giving the Drive a 4-0 lead.

The Hot Rods responded in the top of the fourth inning against Drive reliever Joey Gartrell. Flewelling led off with a double, Connor Hujsak singled, and an error from the Drive scored Flewelling to make it 4-1. Santa Maria stepped in a crushed a two-run blast to center, bringing the score to 4-3.

Bowling Green scored again in the top of the fifth against Gartrell. Adrian Santana led off with a single, stole second base, and advanced to third on a throwing error. Connor Hujsak grounded out to second, scoring Santana, tying the game 4-4. In the bottom of the fifth against Gill Hill, Cespedes launched his second homer of the night, a two-run blast to make it a 6-4 Greenville lead.

Each team added a run in the sixth inning. For the Hot Rods, Santana drove in a run on an RBI double, and Rodriguez hit a solo homer for the Drive to make it a 7-5 Greenville lead.

The Hot Rods stormed back, plating four runs between the seventh and eighth innings. Santa Maria and Ryan McCoy tied the game with RBI base hits in the seventh. Flewelling blasted a two-run homer in the top of the eighth, giving the Hot Rods their first lead of the game, 9-7.

Greenville brought across one more run in the bottom of the eight, but Noah Beal closed the door the rest of the way, wrapping up a 9-8 Hot Rods win.

Cade Citelli (1-0) picked up his first win of the year, tossing 2.0 innings of relief, allowing one run on one hit with one walk and one strikeout. Hudson White (0-1) was given the loss, surrendering four runs on six hits over 3.0 innings. Beal (2) earned his second save, giving up one run on two hits while striking out two.