Tourists Fall to Crawdads in Second Half Opener

ASHEVILLE- The Asheville Tourists fell to the Hickory Crawdads 8-2 in the second half opener. Asheville allowed three multi-run innings and the Tourists had a hard time cashing in with their offensive opportunities.

Deylen Miley stole the show when he came into the ballgame in the top of the sixth. The Tourists already trailed 8-1 but Miley handled the Crawdads hitters for four innings. The right-hander struck out eight and did not allow a run.

Hickory took the lead 2-0 in the top of the second. Asheville responded with a two-out triple by Rolando Espinosa in the bottom half. Espinosa scored on a Crawdads error to give the Tourists their first run of the game.

The Crawdads used a two-run Home Run in the fourth, a two-run Home Run in the fifth, and a handful of Tourists defensive miscues to build their lead up to 8-1. Tommy Sacco Jr. and Kobe Kato combined for back-to-back two out hits in the bottom of the eighth. The latter was an RBI double that plated the game’s final run.

Valente Bellozo took the loss but did strike out four batters in his four innings of work. Asheville has dropped nine of their last 11 games and is amid a season-long four game losing skid.