Corley, Crawdads School Catfish

The Hickory Crawdads took their third straight game on the road in Columbus Wednesday night 9-3. Brad Corley went 3-4 with 3 runs scored and 4 RBIs and Jared Hughes picked up his second win with the Crawdads.

Hickory opened the scoring in the second inning. Jason Delaney opened the inning with a walk. After a Steve Lerud strikeout, John Santiago singled to right field. Catfish second baseman committed a throwing error allowing Delaney to score the first run of the game. Eddie Prasch reached on an infield single. After a Shelby Ford fly out, DH Euvi Solano singled up the middle to score Santiago for a 2-0 lead.

Hickory added two more runs in the fourth. Mike McCuistion led off with a walk, and scored on a Brad Corley double. Corley later scored on a double play ball upping the score to 4-0.

Columbus came back with two runs of their own in the third. Bridger Hunt beat out an infield hit. Conor McGeehan followed with his first home run with Columbus, a two run shot to left.

The game remained scoreless until the eighth inning. Hickory had only one baserunner reach from the fourth through seventh innings, while Columbus left runners in scoring position in the 4th, 5th and 7th innings.

Hickory added a run in the eighth inning on a walk to Brad Corley, who advanced to third on a Steve Lerud single, and scored on a wild pitch by Columbus pitcher Jordan Pratt.

Columbus came back with a run of their own in the eighth. David Sutherland hit a one out double to center and advanced to third on a Matt Swanson wild pitch. Sutherland scored on a grounder by Russell Martin to bring Columbus within 2 runs at 5-3.

Hickory put the game away with four runs in the ninth inning off Catfish pitcher Ramon Troncoso. Shelby Ford led off with a ground rule double to left and went to third on a sac bunt by Euvi Solano. Adnrew McCutchen reached on a hit batter. Mike McCuistion brought home Ford with an infield hit. Brad Corley completed the scoring with a three run home run for the final 9-3 margin.

Jared Hughes (2-1) picked up the win for Hickory, Matt Swanson his tenth save of the year. Arismendy Castillo (6-3) took the loss for Columbus. Hickory will try for the road sweep on Thursday against Columbus on the banks of the Chattahoochee.