Vanasco Stellar in Debut But 'Dads Drop Game 2

Hickory, NC- The Crawdads fell to the Columbia Fireflies 6-5 on Wednesday night despite Ricky Vanasco's strong Crawdads debut on the mound.

Pedro Gonzalez launched his 21st homerun of the season to give the Crawdads a 1-0 lead in the second inning.
The Crawdads padded the lead with three runs in the third inning. Jax Biggers singled and came around to score on a double by Josh Jung. Tyreque Reed followed up with a double in the next at bat that drove in Biggers. Melvin Novoa was hit by a pitch to bring up Ryan Anderson. Anderson collected the third double of the inning to make the score 4-1.
The Fireflies picked up a run in the top of the fourth but still trailed the Crawdads by three.
In the bottom half of the inning, the Crawdads got the run back to make it a 5-1 game. Jonathan Ornelas walked to get things started. A double by Matt Whatley sent Ornelas to third. Jung hit a sacrifice fly that Ornelas tagged up and came home to score on.
Crawdads starting pitcher Ricky Vanasco delivered five innings, yielding just one run in his first game with the team. He struck out the side in his first inning and finished the evening with eight strikeouts. He allowed just two hits and walked one.
Columbia got three runs across in the sixth inning but still trailed the 'Dads.
The Fireflies scored two in the top of the ninth to pull ahead 6-5.
The three-game set against the Fireflies concludes tomorrow evening at 7pm with the last Thirsty Thursday of the season. Draft beer and Pepsi products will be on special throughout the night thanks to Sheetz and Focus News. The Crawdads are also paying tribute to the 30^th anniversary of the Simpsons. Paint yourself yellow or dress as your favorite character for a discounted $6 ticket.