Crawdads Blank Columbia 6-0 on Saturday Night

Hickory, NC- The Crawdads offense stayed rolling on Saturday, but a run in the third inning was all they needed to claim their second consecutive shutout, defeating the Columbia Fireflies 6-0 at LP Frans Stadium.

The Crawdads received another exceptional pitching performance from a trio of arms that guaranteed a split of the six-game series.

AJ Russell opened the night tossing 3.2 innings, allowing three hits while striking out five Columbia batters.

Louis Marinaro (3-2) tossed 2.1 innings, retiring all seven batters he faced to claim his third win of the season.

Jormy Nivar picked up a three-inning save for the 'Dads, surrendering three hits to close out the night for Hickory (2-0, 35-30).

Crawdads' pitchers struck out twelve Columbia batters while allowing just one walk in the dominant effort.

Offensively, Daniel Flames, Marco Argudin, Curley Martha and Angel Arredondo led a twelve-hit attack with multi-hit games to pace Hickory.

The Crawdads broke a 1-0 game wide open in the sixth with a five-run outburst that saw the Crawdads bat around against Columbia (0-2, 34-34).

Daniel Flames doubled home a pair of runs to stretch the Hickory lead to 4-0, effectively separating the two teams.

Sebastian Baquera's RBI single closed out the scoring for the 'Dads, as Curley Martha would score behind Flames on a misplay in the Columbia outfield to make it a 6-0 game.

Shane Van Dam (1-5) was tagged with the loss for Columbia, as the Fireflies will need a win tomorrow to earn a split in the week-long series.

Evan Siary gets the ball tomorrow for Hickory as the clubs conclude the series at 2pm.