De La Cruz Drills Walk Off Homer to Down Crawdads

Luis De La Cruz walked off the Hickory Crawdads, giving the Hill City Howlers the 6-4 victory on Friday night.

The Howlers finished with just six hits in the contest, but capitalized on their opportunities late in the game. For the Howlers, this was their first walk-off win of the season.

It was a slow start to the ballgame as neither team could strike paydirt in the first two innings. Then in the third, the Crawdads opened up the frame with a solo home run from Paulino Santana. Hector Osorio and Yolfran Castillo scored later in the frame from a sacrifice fly from Marcos Torres and a single by Luis Marquez.

Leading 3-0, the Crawdads found the long ball yet again as Torres took a fastball the other way to add a mid-inning insurance run.

The Howlers responded in the bottom of the frame as Jose Pirela carried one over the deepest part of the park, hitting the batter’s eye in centerfield for a solo homer.

Hill City continued to chip away in the sixth as the first two runners of the inning both reached. Riley Nelson picked up his first hit of the season, driving home both runners to cut the deficit to 4-3.

As the Howlers churned through bullpen arms, Angel Perez and Eudry Alcantara shut down the Crawdads in the later inning setting up a dramatic finish.

After an impressive at-bat, Yeiferth Castillo walked and was lifted for a pinch runner in Dauri Fernandez. Tyler Howard bounced a knuckler through the middle of the infield that somehow found centerfield, setting the stage for Luis De La Cruz.

On a full count pitch, De La Cruz was fed a changeup over the middle and turned on the pitch for a homer deep into the Lynchburg night, walking off the Crawdads. The three-run blast was his first home run of the season and the first blown save for J.D. McReynolds.

The Howlers and Crawdads will fight again on Saturday evening at 6:30 p.m. at City Stadium. Tickets are available at hchowlers.com.