Salem and Greenville both fall in series openers

9/15 Cup of Coffee: Both Salem and Greenville lost their respective league championship series-opening games last night. Salem was humbled by Lynchburg, 9-2. Eammon Portice started and took the loss, going 6 innings. He gave up 3 runs on 4 hits and 2 walks. He fanned 2. The Red Sox led 2-0 going into the bottom of the third, but the Hillcats scored three times and never looked back. Salem had the tying runs in scoring position in both the 6th and 7th innings, but could not capitalize. Lynchburg then scored twice in their half of the 7th and brought home four more in the 8th to break the game open. Jon Hee and Mike Jones each went 2 for 4 in the game.

Lakewood downed Greenville, 6-3. Trailing 4-3 in the bottom of the 8th, the Drive allowed the BlueClaws to score two more insurance runs to finalize the score. Brock Huntzinger started and went 6 innings, allowing 4 runs on 7 hits. He did not allow a walk while striking out 5. The Drive out-hit the BlueClaws, 10-9, but were just 2 for 13 with runners in scoring position, leaving 11 runners on base. Zach Gentile went 3 for 4 and scored a run. Shannon Wilkerson and Casey Kelly each went 2 for 4 in the game.

Player of the Night: Zach Gentile, who led the Drive with 3 hits in their loss.

Tweet