HobbsDailyReport.com
The Crawdads, now in first place, have won on four consecutive Friday nights.
ASHEVILLE –Friday, at least of late, has turned into a fun night for the Crawdads.
Scoring fivc early runs this time, Hickory won for the fourth consecutive Friday night by beating host Asheville 6-3 to move into sole possession of first place in South Atlantic League (SAL) Northern Division baseball.
Hickory (40-52, 13-9 second half) is a full game ahead of Hagerstown (Md.) after the Suns fell 6-0 to Charleston, W. Va., on Friday night.
Asheville (42-46, 13-9) is tied for second with Lexington (Ky.) in the Southern Division, each 2 ½ games back of Charleston, W. Va.
The Crawdads are now headed to Greenville, S.C., to open a four-game series on Saturday night at 7 p.m.
At Asheville, the Crawdads scored four runs in the opening inning, three before the Tourists could get an out.
Blaine Prescott started the game with a double and gained second base via a balk. Brallan Perez’s single scored Prescott. After Leody Taveras doubled, Alex Koiwalczyk’s single made it 2-0.
The Tourists still hadn’t recorded an out when a wild pitch scored Taverus. With one out, a passed ball scored another run and the Crawdads led 4-0.
Hickory was up 5-0 after scoring a run with two outs in the third inning. After the outs, Yohel Pozo singled and reached second on a wild pitch. He scored on a single by Franklin Rollin.
The Crawdads’ other run came in the eighth inning when Prescott doubled with two outs and scored on a single by Perez.
Hickory had 11 hits – two doubles by Prescott and two hits each by Perez, Kowalczyk and Rollin.
Brian Serven led Asheville, 1-for-9 with runners in scoring position, with two hits.
Crawdads starter Michael Matuella (1-5) got a win, going five innings. He gave up three hits, no runs and struck out four. Throwing strikes on eight of his 10 pitches, reliever C.D. Pelham threw an inning to register his fourth save of the season.
Breiling Eusebio (1-1) took the loss for Asheville, going 3 2/3 innings. He allowed six hits, five runs (four earned), walked four and struck out one.
Hickory’s streak of Friday night wins began with one against Augusta (Ga.), followed by the same at Charleston, W. Va., and against Delmarva (Md.).
The Crawdads have three games in Greenville, S.C., next, also playing there on Sunday at 4:05 p.m. and Monday at 11:05 p.m.
After taking Tuesday off, Hickory starts a homestand – three games against Asheville (Wednesday through Friday) and then four against Greenville, S.C., on July 22-25.
Click the link below for the Friday night boxscore.
http://www.milb.com/milb/stats/stats.jsp?gid=2017_07_14_hicafx_ashafx_1&t=g_box&did=milb&sid=t448