Crawdads Topple Hill City 12-4

Hickory, NC- The Crawdads overcame an early 3-0 deficit by scoring runs in five consecutive frames to down Hill City 12-4 at LP Frans Stadium on Saturday night.

Aidan Deakins came into the start seeking his sixth win of the season but ran into a Howlers club looking to claim their first win in five tries against the home team.

Things looked promising for Hill City, as Yeiferth Castillo lifted a home run to right field in the third, a two-run blast that pushed the visitors to a 3-0 advantage.

The early lead was part of a 16-hit attack for Hill City, where Castillo and Riley Nelson collected four hits each in the effort.

On this night, however, the ‘Dads had to rely on delayed gratification, scoring their first run in the fourth off of Hill City starter Ryan DeSanto.

But once the Crawdads train got rolling, they would finish the contest with sixteen hits of their own while scoring twelve times en route to the win.

The Crawdads would overcome the early deficit in the sixth inning, as the club plated three to gain a 6-4 lead.

The rally started with one out, when Daniel Flames singled, then scored on a Curly Martha knock to knot the game at 4-4.

Two batters later, Yolfran Castillo legged out an infield hit that scored Luis Marquez to give Hickory a 5-4 lead, their first of the night.

On that same play Martha scored on a throwing error to push the lead to 6-4.

From there, the Crawdads replicated similar outputs in the seventh and eighth innings to claim their eighth straight win to open the second half of the Carolina League South division.

Balance was the name of the game for Hickory (8-0, 42-30), as the ‘Dads got a base hit from every batter in the lineup, without ever hitting a triple or home run.

Flames collected three hits on the night, all singles, to go with two RBI.

Six players: Yolfran Castillo, Marco Argudin (two doubles), Marcos Torres, Luis Marquez, Curly Martha and Sebastian Baquera; each collected two hits on the night.

Geury Rodriguez collected the win in relief for Hickory, pushing his record to 4-2 on the season.

Aaron Savary took the loss for Hill City (0-8, 31-43), dropping to 1-3 on the year.

The win tonight for Hickory was their ninth in eleven starts, as the club will wrap up their longest homestand of the season with the finale tomorrow afternoon. Evan Siary will toe the slab for Hickory, with first pitch slated for 2pm.