Heyman Delivers Walk-Off Winner as Drive Conquers Rome, 12-11, in Home Finale

Luke Heyman made sure the Greenville Drive’s final home game of the 2026 regular season ended in unforgettable fashion.

Heyman lined a two-out, walk-off single to right field in the bottom of the ninth inning, scoring Jake Schaffner and completing a furious comeback as the Drive defeated the Rome Emperors, 12-11, Sunday afternoon at Fluor Field at the West End. Greenville scored four runs in the eighth and four more in the ninth to erase a six-run deficit and send the home crowd of 7,107 out with a victory.

Heyman was at the center of the Drive offense all afternoon, finishing 2-for-5 with a home run and five RBI. His 13th homer of the season — a two-out grand slam in the fifth inning — initially pulled Greenville even after Rome had built an early 4-0 advantage.

Rome opened the scoring in the first inning when Luis Guanipa's fielder's choice brought Carter Beck home. Dixon Williams added an RBI single in the third before the Emperors stretched their advantage to 4-0 on Williams' two-run homer in the fifth.

The Drive answered dramatically in the bottom half. Givian Sirvania walked, Schaffner singled and Owen Hull walked to load the bases with two outs. Heyman then launched a grand slam to left-center field, bringing Fluor Field to life and tying the game at 4-4.

Rome responded with four runs in the sixth and two more in the seventh. Mason Guerra homered to begin the sixth, while Tanner Smith's two-run homer in the seventh pushed the Emperors' lead to 10-4.

But the Drive refused to go quietly.

Isaiah Jackson, Ronny Hernandez and Antonio Anderson opened the bottom of the eighth with three consecutive singles, with Anderson's hit scoring Jackson. Three straight walks followed, bringing home Hernandez and Anderson, before Schaffner's fielder's choice scored Nazzan Zanetello to cut the deficit to 10-8.

Rome added an insurance run in the top of the ninth when Williams walked and eventually scored on a wild pitch, leaving Greenville three runs down entering its final turn at bat.

What followed was a fitting finish to the home schedule.

Hernandez was hit by a pitch to begin the ninth before Anderson and Stanley Tucker each singled. After two strikeouts brought Greenville down to its final out, Schaffner lined an RBI single to left to score Hernandez and make it 11-9.

Hull then reached on a throwing error by Rome second baseman Cody Miller, allowing Anderson and Tucker to race home with the tying runs while Schaffner advanced to third.

That brought Heyman to the plate with the winning run 90 feet away. Heyman finished the comeback with a ground-ball single into right field, scoring Schaffner and setting off a celebration as the Drive completed the walk-off victory.

Hull went 3-for-4 with a double, two walks and a run scored, while Schaffner finished 2-for-6 with two RBI and two runs. Anderson added two hits, two runs and an RBI as Greenville collected 12 hits and went 5-for-14 with runners in scoring position.

Trennor O'Donnell earned the victory after working the final three innings, striking out three. The win improved Greenville to 30-30 in the season’s second half and gave the Drive a dramatic sendoff in their final regular-season game at Fluor Field in 2026.

The Drive now heads to Bowling Green, KY for the final six-games of the regular season with hopes of clinching a spot in the South Atlantic League playoffs. Greenville sits 1-1/2 games behind the Winston-Salem Dash, who lost on Sunday, for the South Division’s second representative.