HobbsDailyReport.com
HICKORY – Scoring all its runs in the sixth inning, Delmarva (Md.) topped Hickory 5-3 on Saturday night in South Atlantic League (SAL) baseball, pulling back into a tie for second place in the Northern Division.
The teams meet Sunday at 5 p.m. at L.P. Frans Stadium and close the series on Monday at noon. They both trail division-leading Hagerstown (Md.) by 1 1/2 games.
Down 3-0 through five innings on Saturday, the Shorebirds (39-46, 10-7 second half) used two of Hickory’s three errors in the sixth inning to gain a lead.
With two infield errors sandwiched around a single by Cole Billingsley, Delmarva got its first run on a single by Preston Palmeiro, chasing Hickory starter Sal Mendez. Collin Woody then had a two-run double off reliever Jake Lemoine, tying at 3, and Frank Crinelle (sacrifice fly) and Ryan McKenna (single) drove in runs to put the Shorebirds ahead 5-3.
Billingsley led Delmarva with two of its seven hits, and McKenna went 2-for-4 with a double and an RBI.
Hickory (37-50, 10-7 second half) got three hits, one a double, from Charles Leblanc. Leody Taveras added two hits and Blaine Prescott had an RBI.
The Crawdads grabbed a 2-0 lead in the first inning. Taveras singled with two outs and Alex Kowalczyk walked. Delmarva starter Matthias Diaz threw back-to-back wild pitches – the first scoring a run – and Anderson Tejeda’s run-scoring single put Hickory up by two runs.
In the second inning, Tanner Gardner doubled for Hickory, Leblanc singled and a run scored on a sacrifice fly by Prescott, making it 3-0.
Mendez (4-6) ended up with the loss for the Crawdads, pitching five innings. He gave up five hits, four runs (one earned) with no walks and three strikeouts.
Diaz (1-7) worked five innings to gain his first win of the season (five hits, three runs, four walks, three strikeouts).
Reliever Steven Klimek came on for the final two innings for the Shorebirds – giving up two hits and striking out one while throwing strikes on 14 of his 18 pitches – and earned his fifth save of the year.
A crowd of 1,425 attended a game that took two hours, 51 minutes to complete and one that had a rain delay of 62 minutes.
After finishing the series with Delmarva, the Crawdads are Tuesday off and then go on a road trip. They play Wednesday through Friday in Asheville and next Saturday through July 17 at Greenville, S.C.
The Crawdads’ next homestand begins July 19 against Asheville, and they play Greenville, S.C., in Hickory on July 23-25.
http://www.milb.com/milb/stats/stats.jsp?gid=2017_07_08_delafx_hicafx_1&t=g_box&did=milb&sid=t448