Eighth Inning Fuels Victory for ‘Dads

Hickory, NC- The Crawdads beat the Winston-Salem Dash 9-3 on Sunday afternoon to win the series four games to two. The ‘Dads are just a half game behind the Bowling Green Hot Rods for first place in the South Atlantic League’s Southern Division.

The Crawdads pulled ahead 1-0 in the bottom of the third inning. Luisangel Acuña homered on a ball to center field, his second homerun in as many days.

Winston-Salem rallied for a pair of runs to take the lead in the top of the fourth inning.

The ‘Dads tied things up at two in the bottom of the sixth inning. Acuña once again kicked off the rally, drawing a walk and stealing second. Trevor Hauver doubled him in on a line drive to center.

The Crawdads’ offense erupted in the bottom of the eighth inning, scoring seven runs. Evan Carter got on base on a fielding error to begin the inning. He stole his ninth base of the season to get in scoring position and took third on a fly out by Acuña. Hauver was intentionally walked before Keyber Rodriguez singled in Carter. Chris Seise’s base hit scored Hauver for the second run of the inning. Scott Kapers walked to load the bases and was replaced by Frainyer Chavez as a pinch-runner. Thomas Saggese hit a single to bring in two more runs. A wild pitch allowed both runners to advance. Jayce Easley sent a three-run homerun to left, giving the Crawdads a 9-2 advantage.

Winston-Salem scored a run in the top of the ninth but the Crawdads closed it out to win 9-3.

On the mound for the ‘Dads Mason Englert got the start, striking out the first five batters of the game. He tossed five innings, giving up two runs on five hits and one walk. He struck out seven. Juan Mejia, Michael Brewer, and Triston Polley each tossed scoreless innings while Jesus Linarez pitched the ninth and allowed an unearned run.

The Crawdads will hit the road for two weeks, traveling to Asheville and Bowling Green.