Crawdads Cruise to 7-1 Win on Independence Day

Hickory, NC- The Hickory Crawdads continued their recent stretch of solid play, beating the Kannapolis Cannon Ballers by a 7-1 score in front of 4,276 fans at the Frans on Friday night.

Antonis Macias led a quartet of hitters, reaching base four times in the 10-hit effort. The Crawdads second baseman walked twice, singled, doubled and scored three times to pace a team that has won ten of their last thirteen contests.

The Crawdads got after it early, getting Macias and Maxton Martin to reach in the first inning. With one out in the stanza, Ben Hartl stroked a two-run single through the infield to put Hickory ahead to stay 2-0.

The Crawdads put the outcome to rest in the seventh inning, as Beycker Barroso roped a two-run double past the third base bag to give the 'Dads a 5-1 advantage.

Thomas Ireland earned his fifth win of the year, a five-inning relief effort, moving the Hickory record to 43-35 overall and 10-3 in the second half.

Ricardo Brizuela suffered the loss for Kannapolis (36-43, 4-9), falling to 0-7 on the year.

Maxton Martin collected a pair of hits in the game, giving him 81 on the season, which ties him with Myrtle Beach's Lionel Espinoza for the Carolina League lead.

Barroso added three RBI to his multi-hit performance, a run-scoring single in the fifth, followed by the double in the seventh.

Hector Osorio was the fourth player with a multi-hit game, adding an RBI and a stolen base to his line.

The Crawdads win tonight secures a series win over Kannapolis, as the two teams renew their rivalry from their days as South Atlantic League foes. Tonight's win for Hickory was their eighth in thirteen games in 2025.

Hickory will look to stretch their win streak to four games tomorrow, as Caden Scarborough takes the hill for the Crawdads, opposite the Cannon Ballers' Luis Reyes. First pitch time at LP Frans is set for 7pm.