Hickory, NC- The Crawdads pitched and fielded their way to a thrilling 2-0 win on Saturday night against the Fayetteville Woodpeckers at LP Frans Stadium.
Jacob Johnson got the start for Hickory seeking his first win of the year. The 20-year old has performed very well this season, despite being on a pitch limit in each of his five previous starts.
Tonight, Johnson threw five hitless innings in just 70 pitches to claim his first win of 2026.
Once Johnson handed the ball over to his bullpen, the results were very much the same for Hickory, as Cole Fehrman and JD McReynolds tossed four scoreless frames to secure the Crawdads' fifteenth straight win.
The fifteen game win streak equals a record for the club that was set back in 2023. That Crawdads club would win the South Division title in the second half of the South Atlantic League.
The offense was limited tonight, as Noah Franklin and Curley Martha claimed the only safeties for Hickory (82-47, 48-17) in the contest.
Martha's single led off the third inning, where he moved to third on walks to Yolfran Castillo and Paulino Santana, then scored on a double play to give Hickory the 1-0 lead.
Castillo later scored Daniel Flames on a squeeze play in the seventh to close out the scoring, putting Hickory ahead 2-0.
But on a night when hitting came at a premium, the Crawdads defense took center stage.
And Yolfran Castillo played the role of leading man!
Yolfran Castillo made at least three extraordinary plays on the night to keep Fayetteville off the board.
In the fourth, with Fayetteville leadoff batter Kevin Alvarez reaching on a walk, Castillo went deep in the hole on the left side to glove a sharp grounder off the bat of Waner Luciano that started a double play to thwart a burgeoning rally for the Woodpeckers.
In the sixth, with Juan Sierra at third, Luciano was again robbed by the Crawdads as his sharp grounder to the left field side was deflected off the glove of Curley Martha in Castillo's direction, who picked up the ricochet and fired a strike to first to deny Fayetteville again.
And then in the eighth, Kam Durnin hit a double over the head of Jay McQueen. With Owen Nowak running on the crack of the bat, McQueen connected with Castillo in right-center field.
With seemingly no chance of cutting down Nowak, Castillo uncorked a perfect one-hop throw to Noah Franklin, who applied the tag just in time to maintain the 2-0 advantage, bringing 3,104 fans to their feet.
From there, JD McReynolds tossed a scoreless ninth to secure his seventh save in the shutout.
Adrian Ardines (0-1) took the loss, allowing the one run through four innings, as Fayetteville (71-58,39-25) dropped their fifth straight to the Crawdads.
Tomorrow, the Crawdads close out the regular season as Josh Owens climbs the hill for Hickory. First pitch time is set for 2pm in the finale.
From there, the Crawdads will prepare for game one of the Carolina League's South Division Championship on Tuesday against the Charleston River Dogs at the Frans on Tuesday night.