Winston-Salem Drops Doubleheader to Open Week in Hickory

WINSTON-SALEM, N.C. (May 24, 2022) — The Winston-Salem Dash dropped both ends of a doubleheader against the Hickory Crawdads, falling 2-1 in the first game and 5-0 in the second.

In game one on Tuesday, the Dash jumped ahead in the top of the first inning.Duke Ellis drew a leadoff walk, then stole second and advanced to third on an errant throw. Terrell Tatum promptly drove Ellis home with an RBI ground out, and the Dash gave Jordan Mikel an early 1-0 lead.

Mikel was in control early on. He started the game by firing four scoreless innings, allowing just three base hits along the way. But, Hickory got to Mikel starting in the fifth. To start,Christian Inoa blasted a solo home run to tie the game at 1-1. Keyber Rodriguez followed, who singled and advanced to second on an error. A balk from Mikel moved Rodriguez over to third base. With one out, Aaron Zavala lined a 2-2 pitch into left to score Rodriguez and give the ‘Dads a 2-1 lead. Mikel was able to escape the inning without any further damage.

Hickory let starterTK Roby begin the sixth inning, and he allowed a one out single to Tatum who then swiped second, and took third base on a wild pitch. After Oscar Colas walked and Bryan Ramos reached on catcher’s interference, Hickory turned the ball over to Destin Dotson. He got the job done, inducing a double play off the bat of Luis Mieses to snuff out the Winston-Salem rally.

Dotson stayed on for the seventh inning, and allowed just one base runner as he closed out a 2-1 Hickory win, in seven innings. That performance earned Dotson a save, Roby got the win, and Mikel was saddled with the loss

Then in the second game, which was a makeup of a previously rained out date in Winston-Salem, the Crawdads got a run across in the top of the first. Back to back singles fromJayce Easley and Aaron Zavala put runners on the corners for Cody Freeman, who plated Easley with a sacrifice fly.

The Crawdads fired a pair of relievers in the first two innings, withJuan Mejia tossing a perfect first inning, and Michael Brewer putting up a zero in the second.

Scott Kaper began the top of the third with a solo home run to left field, giving Hickory a 2-0 edge. After Easley singled and advanced to second on a groundout, Trevor Hauver drove him in with a line drive single to left field.

Hickory turned the baseball over to the righthanderJohn Matthews, who allowed just a lone walk in the third and fourth innings.

Already ahead 3-0, the Crawdads tacked on an insurance run in the fifth when Kapers went deep for the second time, another solo shot. Then in the sixth,Frainyer Chavez made it 5-0 with his RBI single.

Matthews continued to hold the Dash lineup in check, not allowing a run over the final five innings to guide Hickory to a 5-0 win, which went on his record. Jesus Valles took the loss for Winston-Salem.