Crawdads Beat Drive, 11-5 

Greenville, S.C. – Hickory scored six runs in the fourth inning and three in the first to put the Drive away early and win, 11-5, in game five Saturday night at Fluor Field.

Greenville managed just four hits on the night. Cam Cannon extended his team-best hitting-streak to 12 games. Brandon Howlett launched his fifth home run of the year, a three-run blast, while Kole Cottam hit his fourth, a solo shot.

Chase Shugart was charged with the loss after allowing nine runs on nine hits and two walks over 3.2 innings of work.

Avery Weems earned the win after pitching 5.0 perfect innings with seven strikeouts. Seth Nordlin notched the save, hurling 4.0 innings and allowed five runs on four hits, two home runs.

Once again, Hickory jumped out to a lead in the first inning. They took a 3-0 advantage on a Trey Hair RBI double, Blaine Crim RBI single and Miguel Aparicio sac fly.

They added to their lead in the fourth inning with a six spot on an Isaias Quiroz RBI single, Joe Acosta RBI single, Hair three-run double and Crim RBI single to go up 9-0.

Greenville got on the board in the sixth inning. Wil Dalton led off with a walk. After an out, Cole Brannen to left-center field, putting runners on second and third. That brought up Christian Koss, who grounded to shortstop for an RBI. Hickory

The Drive inched closer in the eighth inning, 9-4. With one out, Brannen and Koss drew back-to-back walks. After a strikeout, Howlett launched a three-run homer to right-center field that travelled 403 ft.

Hickory added two more runs in the ninth inning via Farinyer Chavez’ two-run double.

A Kole Cottam solo shot in the bottom of the ninth inning over the Green Monster brought the score to 11-5.

Game six against Hickory is scheduled for 3:05 pm Sunday afternoon at Fluor Field. The Drive are slated to throw Jay Groome while the Crawdads are set to throw Grant Wolfram.