HobbsDailyReport.com
HERRERA
HICKORY – Asheville scored all but one of its runs via home runs on Wednesday night, knocking off Hickory 7-3 and dropping the Crawdads into second place in the South Atlantic League (SAL) Northern Division baseball race.
Carlos Herrera homered twice – a solo shot in the seventh inning and a three-run shot in the ninth inning – and Vince Fernandez hit a two-run shot in the first inning for the visiting Tourists (45-49, 16-10 second half).
Herrera is hitting .368 in his last 10 games with two home runs and eight RBIs.
The loss, the fifth in seven games for Hickory, left the Crawdads (41-55, 14-10) in second place. They’re a half-game back of Hagertown (Md.), whose games against Charleston, W. Va., on Wednesday night was rained out.
CURRENT HOMESTAND
Wednesday, 7 p.m.: Asheville
Thursday, 7 p.m.: Asheville
Friday, 7 p.m.: Asheville
Saturday, 7 p.m.: Greenville, S.C.
Sunday, 5 p.m.: Greenville, S.C.
Monday, 7 p.m.: Greenville, S.C.
Tuesday, 7 p.m.: Greenville, S.C.
Hickory and Asheville play Game 2 of their series on Thursday night at 7 p.m. at L.P. Frans Stadium then close the series with a 7 p.m. start on Friday night.
The Crawdads outhit the Tourists 8-6 on Wednesday night but they never led.
Asheville was up 2-0 through one inning, 2-1 after five innings and it was tied at 2 through six innings.
The Tourists went up 4-2 with a two-run seventh inning and led 4-3 as they entered the final inning.
A crowd of 1,225 saw both starting pitchers pitch well. Asheville’s Alejandro Requena (8-3) got a win after going six innings, giving up seven hits, three runs (all unearned), walking none and striking out five.
Hickory’s starter, Edgar Arredondo (5-5) threw seven innings. He gave up three hits, four runs (all earned), walked none and struck out six.
Anderson Tejada went 3-for-4 with a double and triple to lead the Crawdads. Leody Taveras and Charles Leblanc each had two hits, and Taveras’ solo home run in the sixth inning was his sixth of the season.
The game opened a seven-game homestand for Hickory. After finishing up with Asheville, the Crawdads begin a four-game series with Greenville (S.C.) on Friday night.
For the boxscore from Wednesday night’s game, click on the link below.
http://www.milb.com/milb/stats/stats.jsp?gid=2017_07_19_ashafx_hicafx_1&t=g_box&sid=t448