Ortiz Goes Deep Twice as ‘Dads Lose in Extras

Hickory, NC- The Crawdads lost 12-9 in ten innings to the Asheville Tourists on Thursday night.

The Crawdads wasted no time taking a lead, getting three in the bottom of the first. Alejandro Osuna singled to start off the inning and took second on a passed ball. Maximo Acosta drove him home with a base hit to left. Abimelec Ortiz smashed a homerun to right field to put the ‘Dads up 3-0.

They added on another run in the second after Keyber Rodriguez started the inning on a walk, stole second, took third on a wild pitch, and tagged up on a sacrifice fly by Jayce Easley.

In the third, the Crawdads struck again for two more runs to make it 6-0. Acosta led off with a single to bring up Ortiz, who delivered his second homer of the night.

Asheville jumped on the Crawdads bullpen, getting four in the sixth and taking the lead with three in the seventh.

The ‘Dads tied it up at seven a piece in the bottom of the seventh. Geisel Cepeda doubled and advanced to third on a single by Acosta. Daniel Mateo brough Cepeda in with a two out single, beating out the throw by the second baseman.

Asheville retook the lead with a run in the eighth.

In the bottom of the ninth, the Crawdads kept the game alive with a run to tie it up again. Acosta began the inning by reaching on a throwing error by the third baseman. Ortiz flied out but the ball was deep enough for Acosta to take second. Mateo doubled in Acosta to make it 8-8.

The Tourists managed four runs in the tenth to pull ahead 12-8.

The ‘Dads only managed to get one back in the bottom half of the inning as Hatcher, the designated runner on second base, took third on a wild pitch and scored on a ground out by Easley.

The teams will meet again tomorrow night for Carnival Night and Hickory is Deactown Night. The first 500 fans will receive a tee shirt courtesy of Wake Forest Athletics. There will also be fireworks following the game thanks to Lowes Foods and KICKS 103.3.