Derek Miller is making a habit of collecting walk off base hits against the Asheville Tourists. For the second time in the series, the Greenville Drive outfielder delivered a game-winning base hit; this time in the bottom of the 14th inning.
Asheville fell 3-2 and suffered their ninth loss in the past ten games.
Ty Buttrey started for the Drive and held Asheville without a hit for five innings. Asheville’s Sam Howard was almost equally as dominant as he held the Drive scoreless for the first five frames. The Tourists did have a golden opportunity in the top of the third by putting runners at first and third with no outs. Back-to-back strikeouts followed by a fly out ended that threat.
The Drive took a 1-0 lead in the sixth courtesy of a friendly bounce. With Miller at second, Mauricio Dubon hit a ground ball back up the middle and the ball hit second base. It deflected off the bag and went into left field allowing Miller to score the game’s first run.
Asheville answered with two runs in the top of the seventh. Drew Weeks led off the inning with a double; the Tourists first hit of the game. Two batters later, Forrest Wall tripled in Weeks and then came home on Dom Nunez’s sacrifice fly to left.
The Tourists took their 2-1 lead to the bottom of the ninth. With the bases loaded and two outs, Ben Moore lined a single to left plating the tying run. With the game tied 2-2, both teams struggled to mount any offense in the extra frames. Asheville did have Wall at third with one out in the tenth but were unable to plate him.
In the bottom of the 14th, Miller stepped to the plate with Moore at third and two outs. On an 0-2 pitch, Miller lined a Scott Firth offering into right-centerfield for the game winning hit. Gavin Glanz and Jerry Vasto each pitched two scoreless innings out of the bullpen. This was Glanz’s season debut.
The Tourists managed just five hits in the game and have a team batting average of .229 through 18 games. Six of their 11 losses have been by one run. After Monday’s off-day, Asheville opens up a seven game homestand on Tuesday night against the Charleston RiverDogs.
(Article written by Doug Maurer of the Asheville Tourists.)