Seymour Strikes Out Nine in 6-4 Series Clinching Win

Bowling Green, Kentucky– Ian Seymour struck out nine batters over five innings in the Bowling Green Hot Rods (74-33) 6-5 win over the Hickory Crawdads (45-58) at Bowling Green Ballpark in Bowling Green, Kentucky. The Hot Rods and Crawdads play the penultimate game of the series on Saturday with a 6:35 PM CT first pitch.

The Hot Rods plated their first run in the first frame against Hickory starter Avery Weems. Alika Williams led off the inning and crushed a solo homer on the second pitch he saw. The homer was the first for Williams in a Hot Rods uniform and gave them a 1-0 lead.

Bowling Green kept the pressure on in the second inning with Weems still pitching. Connor Hollis started it off with a one out double, while Jacson McGowan and Roberto Alvarez worked back-to-back walks to load the bases. One out later, Brett Wisely singled home Hollis and McGowan to increase their lead to 3-0. Alvarez scored the third run of the inning, crossing on a wild pitch and making a 4-0 game.

The offense kept rolling in the bottom of the third while still facing Weems. Evan Edwards led off the inning with a walk and moved to third on a stolen base and an error. Two outs later, Hollis drove him in with a base-hit to expand the Hot Rods advantage to 5-0.

The Crawdads broke onto the scoreboard in the fifth inning with a home run from Isaias Quiroz, cutting into the Bowling Green lead, 5-1. The Hot Rods answered in the bottom half against Crawdads reliever Nic Laio. With two outs, Hill Alexander blasted his 12th homer of the season, extending the Bowling Green lead to 6-1

Hickory continued to add to their score in the seventh inning on another Quiroz homer, this time a two-run bomb, bringing the score to 6-3. The Crawdads drove in one more run in the top of the ninth to make it 6-4. After the homer, Alan Strong closed the door with back-to-back strikeouts, giving the Hot Rods a 6-4 victory.

Seymour (1-0) struck out nine batters, walked one, and allowed one run on two hits in his first win with Bowling Green this season. Zack Trageton tossed 3.0 innings in relief, surrendering two runs on one hit while striking out five and earning his third hold of the year. Strong (3) punched out two over an inning while giving up one run on one hit in his third save of the campaign.

Notes: Seymour’s nine K’s falls one short of his career-high… He now has eight or more strikeouts in his last five outings… He has struck out 19 over his first 10 innings with Bowling Green this season… Wisely had his fifth multi-RBI game of the year… Hollis collected his 15th multi-hit performance of the campaign… Bowling Green pitching has struck out 15 or more in the last two games… The Hot Rods are 46-18 when scoring first… They are 50-4 when outhitting their opponent… BG is 8-2 against Hickory this season… They are 11-7 against them all-time… The Hot Rods and Crawdads play the fifth game of a six-game series on Saturday with a 6:35 PM CT first pitch… Bowling Green sends RH Carlos Garcia (6-2, 4.15) to the bump against Hickory RH Ben Anderson (2-0, 3.27)… Fans can catch all of the action by watching on MiLB.tv or listening through the MiLB First Pitch app, tuning into WBGN 94.5 FM and 1340 AM, or visiting https://www.milb.com/bowling-green/fans/audio-listen-live.

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