Crawdads Run Away with 7-1 Win Over Drive

Greenville, SC - The Hickory Crawdads (27-27) took control early in Saturday night's game at Fluor Field and never looked back, as they defeated the Greenville Drive (27-27) 7-1 to take a 2-1 series lead.

The Crawdads took a 1-0 lead in the top of the first when Nick Vickerson was hit by a pitch, moved to third on Joe Jackson's double and scored on a Drive error.

After the top of the first, Hickory starter Kelvin Vasquez (3-1) and Greenville starter Teddy Stankiewicz (4-3) traded zeroes until the Crawdads scored twice in the top of the sixth. A Drive error on an attempted force out brought home a run, and Ronald Guzman's sacrifice fly to center scored another.

Stankiewicz was the tough-luck loser on Saturday, as all three runs he allowed in his six innings were unearned. He allowed four hits and two walks while striking out three.

The Drive finally got to Vasquez in the sixth, as Manuel Margot's infield single scored Jantzen Witte, who reached on a hit by pitch. Despite allowing the run, Vasquez gave the Drive fits at the plate, striking out seven in five innings.

Hickory added four more runs in the final three innings against the Drive bullpen. They rudely greeted Ellis Jimenez, making his first appearance with the Drive, for three runs in two innings. A well-executed double steal in the seventh made the score 4-1, and a long homer to left in the eighth by Travis Demeritte tacked on two more runs.

Jackson's RBI single in the ninth against Taylor Grover capped the scoring. He and Guzman each collected a pair of hits for Hickory. Witte had three hits to lead the Drive, while Margot and Forrestt Allday had two hits apiece.

The teams will wrap up the four-game series on Sunday afternoon at 4:05. LH Daniel McGrath (1-2, 3.86) will make his first home start for the Drive after three starts on the road, and RH Tyler Smith (1-1, 2.84) will take the mound for the Crawdads.