Martinez Carries Howlers to Victory Over Crawdads

The Hill City Howlers hung onto a 7-6 victory over the Hickory Crawdads on Tuesday evening.

Despite an early lead, the Crawdads kept chipping away at the score line, cutting the deficit to one in the ninth inning, but could not overcome the 5-0 deficit after the first two innings. Anthony Martinez had quite the day, finishing a double shy of the cycle.

Hill City picked up where they left off last week against the Warbirds with a four-spot in the first inning. After a Robert Arias single, Juneiker Caceres drove a double the opposite way for an RBI. Cannon Peebles followed with a single to right field, pushing the lead to two.

For the fourth straight hit of the inning, Anthony Martinez blasted his third homer of the season, a two-run majestic shot to right field. His home run put the Howlers in front 4-0 before a second out was recorded.

The Crawdads would escape without any further damage, but Hill City added on in the second inning. Arias continued to swing a sweet bat as he doubled home a run on his second hit in the game.

Down 5-0, Hickory began to respond. In the third, Yolfran Castillo tripled off the centerfield wall to drive home a run before scoring on a sacrifice fly from Hector Osorio later in the frame.

In the fourth, Angel Arredondo deposited a double down the left field line, scoring Josh Springer, making it a 5-3 game.

Then in the fifth, Martinez roped a stand-up triple off the wall, scoring Caceres for an insurance run, pushing the lead back up to three. For Martinez, that served as his first triple of his professional and collegiate career (since 2023).

After a Jonathan Martinez double in the sixth, Luis De La Cruz delivered an RBI single up the middle. Leaving the sixth, the Howlers led 7-3.

Hickory would not go away quietly with two more runs in the seventh inning. An RBI single from Daniel Flames plated a run before Josh Springer followed suit with a grounder up the middle that, despite being fielded on the infield, scored the runner from second to make it a 7-5 ballgame.

In the top of the ninth, the Crawdads attempted a comeback in the ninth, scoring Josh Springer on a force out at second to cut the deficit down to one. However, Angel Perez retired the next two hitter for his league leading fourth save of the game.

The Howlers and Crawdads will play an early game tomorrow for Education Day at the ballpark. First pitch is scheduled for 11 a.m. with tickets available at hchowlers.com.