Drive edges Dogs in 11th on wild pitch

Drive 3, RiverDogs 2 (11 inn.)

Yamaico Navarro was 3-for-5 and scored on a wild pitch in the 11th inning to send the Greenville Drive to a 3-2 victory over the Charleston RiverDogs in front of a Riley Park crowd of 3,124 on Tuesday.

After surrendering four runs in the first three innings, both pitching staffs settled down to throw seven scoreless innings.

Greenville (21-18) was getting runners on base, but nobody was able to get past second until the 11th inning. Charleston (26-12) looked as if it was going to pepper Drive starting pitcher Eammon Portice, scoring two runs on three hits, a walk and four fielder's choice plays. However, after Justin Snyder led off the third with a single, the hits stopped coming.

The RiverDogs struck out 16 times and went 21 straight batters without getting anyone on base.

The Drive broke through in the 11th against reliever Chace Vacek. Navarro and Mike Jones hit back-to-back singles to right field with one out. Vacek got Luis Exposito to hit a grounder for a possible double play. The RiverDogs were able to get the out at second, but Exposito was called safe at first despite the animated objection of RiverDogs manager Torre Tyson.

With Navarro at third, Vacek bounced a pitch in front of the plate, and the ball got away from catcher Jesus Montero to allow Navarro to score without a slide.

In the bottom of the inning, Montero hit a one-out single to left field, but Brian Baisley flew out and Taylor Holiday struck out to end the game.

Chad Povich (5-0) pitched the final three innings for Greenville to earn the win. He allowed two hits and struck out four. Portice struck out nine in six innings and gave up four hits and a walk.

Snyder and Montero each had two hits for the RiverDogs. Montero drove in Snyder with a double in the first inning. Austin Krum drove in Walter Ibarra in the second.

Ballpark fun

Coupons for real money were hidden in the hot dog wrappers, so buying food at the concessions stand was almost like buying a lottery ticket. However unlike the lottery, if you didn't win any money, at least you could eat the hot dog.

Coming up

The Drive and RiverDogs play the third game of their series today at 7:05 p.m. The scheduled starters are Charleston right-hander Jason Stephens (1-0, 1.42 ERA) and Greenville's Terumasa Matsuo (0-0, 6.49).

Today's promotion is a salute to the New York Yankees' facial hair policy. Anyone with facial hair longer than one inch will receive a dollar off of admission. Also, there will be an abundance of ZZ Top music played and a pair of fans will win tickets to their upcoming concert.

Reach Bill Henley at 937-5595 or bhenley@postandcourier.com.