Crawdads Hold Off Shorebirds to Reclaim Series Lead
Delmarva Haunted by the Long Ball in Defeat
HICKORY, NC: The Delmarva Shorebirds (42-75, 19-32) were defeated by the Hickory Crawdads (68-46, 34-16) Thursday night, 7-4.
After a scoreless first three innings, Ty Head (2) put the Shorebirds on the board first with a no-doubt, solo homer to lead off the fourth inning and make it 1-0.
Harrison Kreiling put together his best start for the Shorebirds since being acquired from Seattle, throwing 3.1 scoreless, no-hit innings with five strikeouts.
The Crawdads registered their first run in the bottom of the fourth on an RBI single by Josh Owens to even the game at one.
In the fifth, Delmarva reclaimed the lead on a two-out RBI double by Adriander Mejia to score Jemone Nuel, putting the Shorebirds ahead 2-1.
Hickory came back with an answer again in the next half-inning, taking the lead on a single with two outs from Deward Tovar that scored two runs. The next batter, Josh Springer (1), homered to give the Crawdads a 5-2 advantage.
The Crawdads used the long ball again in the sixth to add to their lead as Paulino Santana (14) and Pablo Guerrero (7) hit back-to-back home runs to extend Hickory's edge to 7-2.
The Shorebirds attempted to come back in the eighth, taking advantage of five walks by Hickory pitching, scoring twice on a sacrifice fly by Eric Booth Jr. and a bases-loaded walk, with Stiven Martinez collecting the RBI to narrow the deficit to 7-4.
However, that's as close as Delmarva could get, as they did not score in the final inning, falling to the Crawdads 7-4.
Evan Siary (6-3) threw a career-high seven innings to earn the win as the starter for Hickory, with Connor Gehr (0-1) taking the loss in relief for Delmarva. Frank Martinez (3) recorded the final four outs to notch the save.
Delmarva attempts to even the series again, with Esteban Mejia taking the mound against Moises Morales for the Crawdads. First pitch is scheduled for 7:00 PM.