The Delmarva Shorebirds fell 7-4 to the Hickory Crawdads in Hickory, North Carolina, as three Hickory home runs helped produce the decisive stretch. Delmarva entered with a 42-75 overall record and a 19-32 mark, while Hickory entered at 68-46 overall and 34-16.
Delmarva Shorebirds Take Two Early Leads
Ty Head opened the scoring with a solo home run in the fourth inning, giving Delmarva a 1-0 lead. Harrison Kreiling followed with 3 1/3 scoreless, no-hit innings and recorded five strikeouts.
Josh Owens tied the game for Hickory with an RBI single in the bottom of the fourth. Delmarva moved back in front in the fifth when Adriander Mejia hit a two-out RBI double that scored Jemone Nuel and made it 2-1.
Hickory Crawdads Answer With Power
Hickory responded in the bottom of the fifth. Deward Tovar hit a two-run single to put the Crawdads ahead, and Josh Springer followed with a home run that extended the lead to 5-2.
Paulino Santana and Pablo Guerrero hit back-to-back home runs in the sixth inning, pushing Hickory’s advantage to 7-2. The Crawdads’ power gave them enough separation to withstand Delmarva’s late rally.
Shorebirds Rally Falls Short
Delmarva scored twice in the eighth inning to cut the deficit to 7-4. Eric Booth Jr. drove in one run with a sacrifice fly, while Stiven Martinez collected the other RBI on a bases-loaded walk.
Delmarva could not score in the final inning. Evan Siary earned the win for Hickory after throwing seven innings; Connor Gehr took the loss in relief for Delmarva, and Frank Martinez recorded the save by retiring the final four outs.
Next for Delmarva
Delmarva was scheduled to try to even the series, with Esteban Mejia starting against Moises Morales for Hickory. First pitch was scheduled for 7 p.m.
Maryland Sports Blog Take
Delmarva took leads in the fourth and fifth innings, but Hickory immediately answered each time. The Crawdads then used three home runs to build a 7-2 advantage before holding off the Shorebirds’ eighth-inning comeback attempt.
Source: Original report
