Dominant pitching led the Charleston RiverDogs to a tight 3-2 win over the Hickory Crawdads on Wednesday in front of 3,742 fans at Joseph P. Riley, Jr. Park.
Their ten-game win streak matches their longest since 2012. In the process, they also moved them into a two-game lead for first place in the Carolina League South Standings with the Hickory Crawdads with eight games remaining in the first half. The two will clash for a four more games this week with first half concluding on June 18.
Aidan Haugh was stellar on the mound for Charleston, limiting the Crawdads to one run over five innings. Over his last three starts, he has allowed one run over 18 frames.
Charleston opened scoring in the bottom of the fourth when Brady Marget sent a sacrifice fly to center.
After Hickory jumped in front 2-1, Marget stepped to the plate in the bottom of the sixth and evened the score with an RBI double. Later in the frame, he scored on a sacrifice fly from Nicandro Aybar to give Charleston a 3-2 lead.
Jacob Kuhn was stout out of the pen, tossing three innings while allowing one unearned run. He earned his first professional win in the process. Mason Nichols slammed the door with a 1-2-3 ninth inning to secure his team-leading sixth save.
With the win, Charleston moved to 34-25 while Hickory fell to 31-26. The two return to The Joe tomorrow for game three of the series. First pitch is slated for 7:05 p.m. on Wednesday with coverage beginning at 6:50 p.m.
Ballpark Fun:
Summer Camp Day at The Joe brought the energy for the RiverDogs’ first day game of the season.
With a 12:05 p.m. first pitch, summer camps showed up and showed out, bringing nonstop energy all game long. Kids packed the stands, participated in every in-game activity, and made sure you could hear them from first pitch to final out.
Pregame, fans scored free Dairy Queen Blizzard cards while the Dairy Queen mascot stopped by for the fun. A hot dog race, blind obstacle race, and games like Red Light, Green Light kept the energy high throughout the afternoon.