Winston-Salem, N.C. – The Charleston RiverDogs fell behind early and were unable to battle back in their 5-2 loss to the Hickory Crawdads at Truist Stadium on Thursday afternoon.
After Hickory jumped in front with consecutive two-out runs in the first, Charleston responded with a run of their own when Alberth Palma sent an RBI groundout to short in the top of the second.
With Charleston still trailing 2-1, Hickory extended its lead with one run in each of the third and fourth innings to make it 4-1.
Alex Wallace was strong, tossing 5.2 innings of four-run ball. Riley Stanford provided 2.1 stout relief innings as well.
Charleston tacked on its final run of the day in the top of the sixth when Taitn Gray blasted a solo shot to left that made it 4-2. The homer marked his sixth of the season, adding to his team lead. Each of his last two longballs have come from the right side of the plate.
The Crawdads responded with one more run in the bottom of the eighth to cap scoring at 5-2.
With the loss, Charleston fell to 23-19 while Hickory moved to 22-18. The two return to Truist Stadium tomorrow for game four of the series with first pitch slated for 6:30 p.m. Coverage begins at 6:15 p.m. on the RiverDogs Broadcast Network.