Yophery Rodriguez's Ninth-Inning Blast Powers Drive to Thrilling 13-11 Comeback Win

With their postseason hopes hanging in the balance, the Greenville Drive delivered yet another dramatic victory Tuesday evening.

Yophery Rodriguez blasted a go-ahead three-run homer in the top of the ninth inning and Nazzan Zanetello added a solo shot as the Drive rallied from a late deficit to defeat the Bowling Green Hot Rods, 13-11, at Bowling Green Ballpark.

The victory kept Greenville firmly in the South Atlantic League playoff race. The Drive remain 1½ games behind the Winston-Salem Dash for the South Division’s second playoff spot after the Dash also won Tuesday, defeating the Rome Emperors, 6-3.

Greenville appeared to be in control for much of the night, building a 9-4 advantage through five innings before Bowling Green erased the deficit with five unanswered runs over the next three frames. The Hot Rods scored once in the sixth and four times in the seventh to pull even at 9-9 before taking their first lead since the opening inning with another run in the eighth.

Then came the ninth.

Gerardo Rodriguez opened the inning with a single before Isaiah Jackson reached on a fielder’s choice. Ronny Hernandez followed with a single to right, putting two aboard with one out, setting the stage for Yophery Rodriguez.

Rodriguez delivered in a big way, launching his 15th home run of the season to right field to bring home Jackson and Stanley Tucker, who entered as a pinch runner for Hernandez, and turn a 10-9 deficit into a 12-10 Greenville advantage. Two batters later, Zanetello provided an important insurance run with his fifth homer of the year, a solo blast to left-center that stretched the lead to 13-10.

That insurance run proved valuable when Narciso Polanco provided Bowling Green with a solo homer in the bottom of the ninth. Aaron Nixon then entered and retired Ryan Cermak on a flyout before inducing Ryan McCoy game-ending groundout.

The Drive’s offense had been clicking from the early innings.

After Bowling Green grabbed a 1-0 lead in the first, Greenville erupted for five runs in the second. Jackson and Hernandez opened the frame with consecutive singles before Rodriguez doubled home Jackson. Zanetello’s groundout plated Hernandez, Skylar King doubled home Rodriguez and Jake Schaffner capped the inning with his first professional home run, a two-run blast to center that gave the Drive a 5-1 advantage.

The Hot Rods answered with two runs in the bottom half, but Greenville added two more in the third. Gerardo Rodriguez doubled and eventually scored on Hernandez’s double-play grounder before Yophery Rodriguez doubled for the second time in as many innings and came home on Antonio Anderson’s RBI single.

Bowling Green trimmed the margin to 7-4 in the fourth, but the Drive again created separation in the fifth when Anderson launched a two-run homer to left, scoring Rodriguez and pushing Greenville’s advantage to 9-4.

The five-run cushion would not hold.

Bowling Green pulled within 9-5 in the sixth before erupting for four in the seventh. Brendan Summerhill scored on a fielder’s choice before Ryan McCoy delivered the biggest blow of the inning, a three-run homer to right-center that tied the game at 9-9.

The Hot Rods completed the comeback in the eighth when Summerhill singled, stole second and advanced to third on a throwing error before scoring on a wild pitch to put Bowling Green ahead, 10-9.

But Greenville had one final answer.

Rodriguez finished a huge night at the plate 3-for-4 with two doubles, a home run, four RBI and four runs scored. Anderson went 3-for-5 with a homer and three RBI, while Zanetello collected two hits, homered and drove in two. Schaffner also homered and drove in a pair as part of an 18-hit night for the Drive, who went 7-for-11 with runners in scoring position.

Brady Tygart earned the victory to improve to 4-0 after striking out 10 across 4⅓ innings in relief of starter Jacob Mayers. Nixon recorded the final two outs for the save. Greenville pitching combined for 16 strikeouts on the night.

The victory improved Greenville to 31-30 in the second half and gave the Drive a dramatic start to their final series of the 2026 regular season.

With only a handful of games remaining and 1½ games separating the Drive from Winston-Salem, every inning continues to carry postseason implications as Greenville’s push for the playoffs rolls on. The Drive and Hot Rods meet again Wednesday night, with first pitch from Bowling Green Ballpark slated for 6:35 PM CT.