HobbsDailyReport.com
HICKORY – The baseball season ends this afternoon for the Hickory Crawdads.
Greensboro clipped Hickory 3-1 on Sunday at L.P. Frans Stadium, eliminating the Crawdads in the chase for a South Atlantic League (SAL) second-half title in the Northern Division.
The Grasshoppers can clinch the division title by beating the Crawdads — who are closing their 25th anniversary season — today in a 1 p.m. game.
TODAY’S FINALE
Greensboro at Hickory, 1 p.m.
Greensboro (74-61, 37-30) took over first place on Sunday and is tied with West Virginia (38-31) after Delmarva (Md.) beat the visiting Power 3-1 on Sunday.
Hickory is one game back at 37-32 but won’t make the postseason even if it wins today because Greensboro’s win percentage (.544 to .542).
In a game that drew 2,925, both Hickory and Greensboro had nine hits and got key contributions from the No. 9 hitters in their batting order.
Luis Pintor, batting ninth for the Grasshoppers, went 3-for-4 with a double while Brendan Davis, in the No. 9 hole for the Crawdads, went 3-for-4 and drove in a run.
Greensboro scored all of its runs in the first two innings. In the first inning, Aaron Knapp (2-for-4) singled with one out and stole second base. He scored on James Nelson’s double. Brian Miller and Knapp had run-scoring singles in the second inning.
Hickory’s run scored in the ninth inning when Andretty Cordero walked, Franklin Rollin singled and Davis drove in a run with a single.
Down two runs, the Crawdads then went 1-2-3 – Blaine Prescott grounded out, Yohel Pozo struck out swinging and Leody Taveras took a called third strike – as Chad Smith picked up his seventh save of the season.
Hickory left 11 runners on base.
Greensboro starter Michael King (11-9) went six innings to get a win. He allowed six hits, no runs, walked two and struck out four.
Reid Anderson (1-11) lasted only 1 1/3 innings as the Crawdads starter and took the loss. He gave up seven hits, three runs (two earned) with no walks or strikeouts.
For Sunday’s boxscore, click on the link below.
http://www.milb.com/milb/stats/stats.jsp?gid=2017_09_03_gboafx_hicafx_1&t=g_box&did=milb&sid=t448