Wehunt tosses five hitless in start as Drive slip by IronBirds, 1-0

Should the trend continue, adjectives describing the Greenville Drive’s latest pitching performance may soon run out.

Greenville Drive (27-19, 53-59) pitching duo of Blake Wehunt and Gabriel Jackson dominated the Aberdeen IronBirds (23-23, 57-55), combining for 10 strikeouts as the Drive emerged from the pitching duel with a 1-0 victory on Friday Night at Leidos Field at Ripken Stadium.

The Drive have now won three in a row, earning at least a series split with two games remaining on the week. The shutout also marked their second of the series and second in the last three outings, having earned a 4-0 victory on Wednesday.

Wehunt tossed five hitless and scoreless innings, with a lone walk and six strikeouts; marking the second start this season that Wehunt has pitched a hitless and scoreless outing. The tall righty out of Kennesaw State was efficient as well, throwing only 65 pitches, and facing only fifteen batters as the lone walk he issued would be forced out on a inning-ending double play one pitch later in the fourth.

With Wehunt buzzing, the Drive also faced a hot hand in Aberdeen starter Michael Forret who held the Drive to one run and one hit while issuing two walks and striking out four. Though Forret held firm overall, his second inning miscues benefitted the Drive.

With two away, Hudson White was hit by a pitch, Juan Chacon walked, and Bryan Gonzalez singled to load the bases. Forret hit his second batter of the inning, running a ball up and inside that hit Andy Lugo along the left forearm, accounting for an RBI for Lugo to make it 1-0.

Though the Drive amassed just three hits on the night, eight of the nine batters in the lineup reached base via hit or walk. Zach Ehrhard, Chacon, and Gonzalez accounted for the only hits of the night while Justin Riemer, White, and Chacon all recorded multi-walk nights. In all, the struggles at the plate continued as the Drive went 1-for-8 with runners in scoring position and left 12 on base.

After Wehunt exited, Jackson allowed the first hit of the night to IronBirds, a leadoff single to Anderson De Los Santos. But it didn’t faze him as he induced a pop-up and received help from White behind the plate as he threw out De Los Santos on a steal attempt.

Jackson would strike out three of the next four batters, while sending down six consecutive batters before allowing a Carter Young single in the eighth. Jackson did issue a two-out walk in the eighth bringing the winning run to the plate but Thomas Sosa grounded out on the first pitch of his at-bat as Jackson earned his second save of the season.

The Drive return to action tomorrow at 7:05 p.m. for game five of the six-game series with Aberdeen. The Drive lead the series, 3-1.