Since losing six in a row nearly a month ago, the Hickory Crawdads have been scraping to clear the breakeven mark for the season and get in position to make a run at the playoffs.
The Crawdads moved past the .500 mark Thursday night with a pair of wins over the Delmarva Shorebirds in a doubleheader at Arthur W. Purdue Stadium. The Crawdads won a marathon 11-inning game 6-4 in the opener before finishing the sweep with a 7-5 win in the nightcap.
The wins gave Hickory (24-23) its first winning record since April 28 when the team was 11-10. More importantly, the Crawdads, who have won four of the last five games, still sit in fourth place, but are two games behind first-place Kannapolis in Carolina League South Division.
Crawdads’ Pablo Guerrero (27) makes a stop on a hot grounder and flips to first for the out during a game in Hickory on April 8.
The first game was a snapshot of the last month of the season, as the Crawdads had the lead four different times before finally prevailing.
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Marcos Torres singled in Chandler Pollard in the fifth to give Hickory the initial lead, but a wild pitch by Crawdads reliever Enrique Segura brought in Andres Nolaya to even the score in the sixth.
Hickory again took the lead with two runs in the seventh before Delmarva rallied again to force extra innings.
Crawdads’ Pablo Guerrero (27) makes his first move before a pitch during a game in Hickory on April 8.
Trailing 4-3, the Crawdads finally seized the game in the 11th when Yeremy Cabrera hit a two-run homer to right. It was his second home run of the season. Luke Savage then retired all three hitters he faced in the bottom of the inning to earn his fourth save of the season.
In game two, the Shorebirds (19-29) took a 4-0 lead and handed Crawdads starting pitcher J’Briell Easley his worst outing of the season. Easley recorded two outs, as six of the eight hitters he faced reached base.
However, the Crawdads waited out Shorebirds starter Chase Allsup. He walked the first five hitters of the second inning. Then Maxton Martin hit a sacrifice fly to score Jesus Lopez and Antonis Macias singled in two more to put Hickory ahead for good at 5-4.
Alfredo Velásquez got a first homer for Delmarva in the bottom of the third, but Pollard’s legs got it back in the fifth. The Crawdads shortstop walked, stole second, moved to third on a throwing error and scored on a wild pitch.
Kai-Noa Wynyard (5-1) got the win in relief for Hickory. He gave up just the homer to Velásquez and struck out two. Brock Porter struck out three over two scoreless innings for his first save.
Small ball gives Delmarva the win Tuesday
The Delmarva Shorebirds put together an effective small-ball offense in the fifth inning Tuesday night to defeat the Hickory Crawdads 4-2.
Delmarva never trailed in the game. The Shorebirds took the lead three batters into the first inning. Braylin Tavera and Yasmil Bucce drew walks and then pulled off a double steal to start the game. They also started the decisive fifth inning rally with a walk and a single to put runners on the corners.
Tavera scored on an error by catcher Jesus Lopez, which put Bucce on third. Cole Urman took advantage by hitting a slow bouncer up the middle for an RBI single. Elis Cuevas followed with a safety squeeze to score Edwin Amparo and make the score 4-0.
Hickory went 1-for-14 with runners in scoring position and left 10 on base. It was the fifth game in a row that the Crawdads had stranded 10 or more.
Ismael Agreda’s run allowed in the first was enough to tag him with the loss (1-2). Adrian Delgado (2-0) got the scorer’s decision win in relief after Evan Yates was unable to complete five innings. Jared Beck earned his first save.
