Crawdads Hit 3 Homers in Loss

Hickory, NC- The Crawdads were unable to hold off the Greenville Drive on Friday night, as runs in the late innings sunk the ‘Dads, who fell 9-8.

The Drive put up a run in the top of the first off ‘Dads starter Zak Kent to take a 1-0 lead.

The Crawdads responded in the bottom half of the inning, evening the score on a solo homerun by Justin Foscue to left field.

Greenville got two more across in the second inning to give them a 3-1 advantage.

Once again, the ‘Dads answered back in the bottom half of the inning, tying the game. Isaias Quiroz drew a walk and Josh Smith recorded his first hit as a Crawdad to put two runners on. Both advanced on a wild pitch. Ezequiel Duran, also in his first game with Hickory, delivered a 2-run single to left.

The Crawdads pushed ahead in the third, with three runs. Jonathan Ornelas and Frainyer Chavez singled to get on base for Jared Walker. Walker crushed a towering homerun that cleared the 32-foot wall in right field.

The ‘Dads got two more runs in the bottom of the fourth to take an 8-3 lead. Duran doubled for his second hit of the night. Trey Hair blasted his ninth homer of the season to score two.

Greenville managed a run in the fifth of Kent. He finished his night after the fifth, allowing four runs (three earned) on seven hits and one walk. He struck out six.

Reliever Ben Anderson allowed a run in the sixth to cut the ‘Dads lead down to three. Anderson held the Drive scoreless in the seventh in his second inning of work. Joe Corbett entered in the eighth and allowed a three-run homer to tie the game. He allowed the go-ahead run in the ninth to put the ‘Dads behind 9-8.

Ornelas collected four hits on the evening. Duran and Hair both had two hits and two RBIs.

The Rhett Walker Band will be performing a post-game Christian Concert thanks to Gardner-Webb University, Century Furniture, the Billy Graham Library, and 106.9 The Light. Only a few hundred seats remain for the game, which has a special start time of 5pm.