The Hickory Crawdads rallied for five runs in the top of the first inning and never looked back, eventually defeating the RiverDogs 10-3 in front of 2,784 fans on Wednesday night at Joseph P. Riley, Jr. Park.
RiverDogs’ starter Jayden Voelker had a tough go in his professional debut, surrendering those five tallies in his lone inning of work. After a run-scoring error, Jose Lopez RBI single and Wady Mendez sacrifice fly, Antonis Macias delivered the big blow, belting a two-run home run to right field that put Hickory on top 5-0.
Following a scoreless second inning, Charleston reliver Engert Garcia ran into more trouble in the third, loading the bases with no outs. A sacrifice fly by Macias scored a Hickory run to increase the deficit to 6-0. Later, with the bases loaded once again, first baseman Larry Martinez fielded a potential double play ball and threw it off Chandler Pollard’s back as he was running between first and second, deflecting the ball into the outfield. The play allowed two more runs to score, pushing the Crawdads’ lead to 8-0.
Noah Beal settled the game down for the RiverDogs, pitching 2.2 innings and allowing one run while striking out six. Owen Stevenson also provided valuable innings, giving up one run over three frames.
Hickory starter Thomas Ireland delivered a gem for the Crawdads, pitching five shutout innings without a walk to earn the win.
The ‘Dogs gave the home fans something to cheer about in the ninth inning, as Ricardo Gonzalez tripled to right field to score two runs. Gonzalez later scored on a Woo Shin RBI groundout, but the rally stopped there.
Ballpark fun: The first 1,000 single-game, seating bowl ticket holders through the gates were “refunded” in the form of a credit to their MyTickets account to celebrate Tax Refund Night. Fans were also given sound financial advice from Professor Thomas Spade, CPA from the College of Charleston in between innings. The “Titanic Cam” on the video board led to some fun and emotional moments from RiverDog faithful before the game came to a close.
The RiverDogs will have the opportunity to bounce back on Thursday night at 7:05 pm. The game marks the first Thirsty Thursday of the season, as dollar-beers will be available throughout the ballpark. Tickets are available now on RiverDogs.com.
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