SALEM, Va. – The Salem RidgeYaks (21-26) battled back to tie the game in the seventh inning, but the Hickory Crawdads (26-19) scored twice in the eighth to hand Salem a 4-2 loss on Wednesday night at Carilion Clinic Field.
The RidgeYaks entered Wednesday with momentum after winning Tuesday night’s series opener in a rain-shortened six-inning game, but the second contest of the series told a different story.
Salem struck first in the opening inning when Skylar King lined a single into left field to bring home Andrews Opata and give the RidgeYaks an early 1-0 lead.
Hickory answered in the third after Hector Osorio delivered an RBI single to left field that scored Daniel Flames and tied the game at one. Osorio later advanced to second on a throwing error by Stanley Tucker.
The game remained even until the seventh inning when Angel Arredondo broke the tie with a solo home run to left field, putting the Crawdads ahead 2-1.
The RidgeYaks responded in the bottom half of the inning. Kleyver Salazar doubled and later scored on a sacrifice fly from Adonys Guzman to even the score at 2-2.
Hickory regained control in the eighth inning for good. A wild pitch by Salem reliever Jay Allmer allowed Osorio to score the go-ahead run before Marcos Torres grounded into a double play that still brought home Deward Tovar, extending the Crawdads’ lead to 4-2.
Salem was limited to three hits offensively, with Salazar collecting two doubles and King driving in the lone RBI hit. Guzman added Salem’s second RBI on the sacrifice fly.
Christian Foutch made the start for Salem, allowing one run over 2.2 innings. Foutch departed abruptly in the third inning before handing the ball over to Luis Cohen. In his Salem return, Cohen delivered four scoreless innings in relief with four strikeouts before Jay Allmer (1-1) was charged with the loss after allowing three runs in the eighth inning. Joey Gartrell also tossed a scoreless ninth inning in his return to Salem for the 2026 season.
Hickory reliever Owen Proksch (1-0) earned the win, while Louis Marinaro picked up his league-leading fifth save of the season.
The RidgeYaks and Crawdads continue their six-game series on Thursday night at Carilion Clinic Field. It’s another Thirsty Thursday as the Salem BeerMongers make another appearance. Southpaw Jason Gilman will toe the rubber with the series tied at one game apiece
Game Notes:
- All three of Salem’s hits came from the three- and four-hole hitters
- Kleyver Salazar and Skylar King combined to go 3-for-6 at the plate, while the other seven Salem hitters went 0-for-22
- Louis Andujar made his Single-A debut
- Adonys Guzman also made his Salem debut and appeared in just his second career Single-A game (September 6, 2025 with the Bradenton Marauders – Pittsburgh Pirates A)
- Salem left just one runner on base all night, marking a new season low in runners left on base and the club’s lowest total since August 21, 2025 against Carolina
- Andrews Opata recorded his 24th stolen base of the season, tied for the second-most in the Carolina League and third-most in Single-A
- Luis Cohen made his Salem season debut by tossing four scoreless innings. It marked Cohen’s first scoreless outing since April 28 with Greenville against Hub City
- Stanley Tucker’s five-game hitting streak came to an end
- Andrews Opata extended his on-base streak to 11 games
- Jay Allmer pitched his first game at Carilion Clinic Field since August 23, 2025
- Luis Cohen returned to Salem and appeared in his first game at Carilion Clinic Field since July 19, 2025
- Joey Gartrell also returned to the 540 and appeared in his first Salem game since September 6, 2025
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