Crawdads Drop Thriller
Published on May 11, 2009 under South Atlantic League (SAL1)
Hickory Crawdads News Release
The Lakewood Blue Claws struck for a run after two were out in the ninth inning to defeat the Hickory Crawdads 4-3 at First Energy Park in Lakewood, NJ. The loss was Hickory's second straight to the Blue Claws after winning the first game of the series.
Hickory drops to a tie for fourth place with Kannapolis, 2 1/2 games out of first place Delmarva. Lakewood improves to 17-13, one game out of first.
After Crawdads reliever Mark Hamburger (1-2) retired the first two hitters in the ninth inning, Zach Collier begane the rally with a single in front of RF Timmy Rodriguez. Collier then stole second base and advanced to third on a throwing error by catcher Doug Hogan. The next batter Sebastian Valle plated Collier with a single off the top of the wall in right for the winning run.
Hickory took a 1-0 lead off Blue Claws starter Jon Velasquez in the first inning. David Paisano led off the game with a walk, stole second, and scored on a double to center by Erik Morrison.
Morrison continues his hot streak at the plate for Hickory. In the ten games since joining the Crawdads, Morrison is hitting .382 with 2 HRs and 9 RBIs. He has at least one hit in 9 of the 10 games and an extra base and an RBI in 7 of the 10 games. However, Morrison left the game during the second inning due to a shoulder injury from a broken bat. He is expected to be day-to-day.
Lakewood took a 2-1 lead in the bottom of the first as Jim Murphy hit a two run homer off Crawdads starter Carlos Pimentel .
Hickory tied the game in the second inning with an unearned run as Paisano singled in Clark Murphy, who reached earlier in the inning on a walk.
The Crawdads took a 3-2 lead in the sixth on a double by Clark Murphy, scoring Matt West, who led off the inning with a single.
However, Lakewood tied the game in the bottom half of the sixth with a homer by Travis D'Arnaud.
Pimentel pitched well for Hickory allowing three runs in six innings, striking out five.
The winning pitcher for Lakewood was Santo Hernandez (1-0), who allowed only three walks in three innings, striking out six.
Hickory concludes their road trip on Tuesday. Game time is at 6:35 pm.
South Atlantic League Stories from May 11, 2009
- Legends win in 14 innings 3-2 - Lexington Legends
- Lexington Nips Charleston, 3-2, in 14 Innings - Charleston RiverDogs
- Drive Fall to GreenJackets, 9-5, in Series Opener - Greenville Drive
- Crawdads Drop Thriller - Hickory Crawdads
- Rodriguez Trumps Roling, Tourists - Asheville Tourists
- Hot Rods Take Opener, 5-2 - Savannah Sand Gnats
- Norris Claims League RBI Lead in 7-2 Suns Win - Hagerstown Suns
- Suns Sink Power - Charleston Dirty Birds
- Valle Gets Game Winner as BlueClaws Sneak Past Crawdass - Jersey Shore BlueClaws
- Intimidators shutout again by Lake County - Kannapolis Cannon Ballers
- Baisley and Ibarra Promoted to Tampa - Charleston RiverDogs
- Charleston Baseball Hall of Fame Seeks Nominations - Charleston RiverDogs
- Drive and Spinx Expand Partnership - Greenville Drive
- Moore Opens Doubleheader Split With Walkoff - Hagerstown Suns
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