Crawdads Surge Past Drive, 7-2
Greenville, SC - For the second consecutive game, the Hickory Crawdads (28-27) used a comeback in the late innings for a victory, as they defeated the Greenville Drive (27-28) 7-2 on Sunday. Hickory clinched a 3-1 series win, while the loss drops the Drive under .500 for the first time since April 8th.
Trailing 2-0, the Crawdads put up three runs in the top of the sixth against Myles Smith (1-4) to take the lead. A single and a pair of walks loaded the bases, and Evan Van Hoosier followed with a sharp single to center to tie the game at two. Nick Vickerson followed with a single of his own, and when Forrestt Allday bobbled the ball in right field, the go-ahead run came home.
Hickory didn't let up from there, scoring single runs in the seventh and eighth and two more in the ninth.
Nomar Mazara led off the seventh with a double and came in on Ronald Guzman's sacrifice fly. In the eighth, Joe Jackson singled and later scored on Mazara's single. Travis Demeritte walloped his third homer of the series, a two-run shot, in the ninth to make the score 7-2.
Tyler Smith (2-1) picked up the win for Hickory by allowing only one earned run in five innings. The Crawdads bullpen was outstanding, as Angelo Leclerc struck out five in two innings, and Josh McElwee struck out four in the final two frames to earn his second save.
The Drive took a 1-0 lead in the second inning thanks to a pair of Hickory errors. Wendell Rijo reached on an error, swiped second base, moved to third on a passed ball and scored when Jimmy Rider's ground ball was thrown away by Hickory's Nick Vickerson.
Jantzen Witte continued to swing a potent bat with a third-inning double to score Tzu-Wei Lin, who singled.
Mazara led the Crawdads offense with three hits, while Jackson and Lewis Brinson chipped in with two hits apiece.
Jackson, the native of Mauldin, hit .471 (8-17) in the series with two doubles, a triple and two RBI.
The homestand continues on Monday as the Drive welcome the Lexington Legends, a Kansas City Royals affiliate, back to Fluor Field for a three-game series. RH Joe Gunkel (1-0, 2.45) will take the ball for the Drive in the series opener at 7:05, and the Legends will counter with LH Matt Tenuta (2-5, 5.17).