Crawdads Held to One Hit in 1-0 Loss

Hickory, NC - The Hickory Crawdads received stellar performances by starting pitcher Emerson Martinez and reliever Adam Choplick Friday night, but the duo's exceptional night didn't get much in the way of support as the 'Dads bats were held to a single hit in a 1-0 shutout defeat against the visiting Lexington Legends at L.P. Frans Stadium.

Martinez set a new career-high with seven strikeouts while allowing one run on three hits and two walks over six standout innings of work. Choplick followed with an impressive outing from the bullpen, as the 6'9" left-hander struck out four while giving up just one hit over his three scoreless innings of relief.

The lone run of the game came in the top of the fifth when Brandon Dulin led off the frame for Lexington with a single, which was followed one out later by a walk to Marten Gasparini to put two runners aboard. Ben Johnson then delivered the big hit of the night with an RBI single to left to give the Legends the 1-0 lead they would go on to win by.

The 'Dads bats were held in check by a trio of Lexington pitchers, headlined by the starter Julio Pinto (2-4) who earned the win after tossing six scoreless innings on one hit, two walks, and seven strikeouts. He was succeeded by relievers Yunior Marte and Gabe Cramer, who combined to strike out four batters over three perfect innings out of the pen. Martinez (0-6) took the hard-luck loss for the Crawdads despite his exceptional performance.

Ti'Quan Forbes collected the only hit of the night for Hickory with a one-out single in the bottom of the fifth. Both Frandy De La Rosa and Brallan Perez finished 0-2 with a walk to make up the other 'Dads baserunners.

The Crawdads (34-33/72-65) and Legends (26-41/51-85) will play again Saturday night at 7:00 pm in game two of their season-ending 4-game series.

 

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