Hickory Sweeps Lynchburg in Doubleheader

The Hickory Crawdads swept the doubleheader over the Lynchburg Hillcats to take the series on Friday.

The Hillcats dropped game one of the doubleheader 4-2 after falling behind earlier. A similar formula carried the Crawdads to victory in game two, as they held on for the 4-3 win.

Hickory opened the scoring for game one in the second inning after a couple of errors opened the door for their runs. Two errors would set the table for a big inning, but the Crawdads could only score two as Marcos Torres scored one with a single. Wady Mendez would earn an RBI despite hitting into a double play.

The lead was short lived as Lynchburg struck for two in the bottom of the second. Christopher Espinola carried a two-run homer over the right field wall evened the score at two.

In the third, Yeremy Cabrera blooped a single into shallow left which plated Maxton Martin and handing the lead back to the Crawdads, 3-2. They would add on another in the fourth with an Esteban Mejia single.

Lynchburg would struggle to get runners aboard the final few innings, as they dropped game one 4-2.

Game two would represent much of the same as the Crawdads started strong. A sacrifice fly from Beycker Barroso pushed them in front. Then, doubles from Erick Alvarez and Marcos Torres extended the lead up to four.

The Hillcats finally put a run on the board in the fourth inning after Logun Clark dropped a single into right field to score Robert Lopez. Despite runners at the corners with no one out, Lynchburg struck out three straight times to end the inning trailing 4-1.

Lynchburg would make things interesting in the seventh. Alberto Mendez would drive home Jose Pirela with a double before scoring himself on a Ryan Cesarini single. However, the Hillcats would not scratch across the tying run.

Lynchburg and Hickory will face off again on Saturday with first pitch scheduled for 6:30 p.m. at Bank of the James Stadium.