Crawdads fall short against Power, 5-3
Published on May 29, 2010 under South Atlantic League (SAL1)
Hickory Crawdads News Release
HICKORY, NC - The Hickory Crawdads brought the tying run to the plate in the ninth inning, but came up just short of their second straight late-game comeback, falling 5-3 against the West Virginia Power before 3,346 fans at Appalachian Power Park in West Virginia on Saturday. The Crawdads lead in the Northern Division is now at 3.5 games over the Hagerstown Suns.
The Power (23-26) got the game started on an ominous note when CF Evan Chambers slugged a leadoff home run to center. DH Aaron Baker singled later in the inning and advanced to third on a wild pitch and a groundout by LF Rogelio Noris. RF David Rubinstein then smacked a double to right center field to bring in Baker and hand West Virginia a 2-0 lead against starter RHP Matt Thompson (4-2, 3.21 ERA).
Hickory (31-19) came back in the fourth inning against Power starter RHP Nathan Baker (4-3, 3.27 ERA) to even the score. After RF Jared Prince singled to center with two outs to keep the inning alive, LF Cristian Santana slugged his seventh homer of the season to left to knot the game up at two.
West Virginia regained the lead in the bottom half of the frame. 3B Jesus Brito reached second on a two-base fielding error by 3B Joe Bonadonna with one out. 1B Kyle Morgan followed with a single to right. Brito attempted to score on the play, but was gunned down at the plate on a perfect throw by Prince. However, Morgan would steal second and reach home on an infield single by SS Benji Gonzalez with a fielding error by 1B Ed Koncel at the end of it, allowing Morgan to come in from third for a 3-2 deficit.
The Power added two more runs in the fifth. Aaron Baker doubled to left and came around to score on two wild pitches from Thompson. Rubinstein then singled and advanced to second on a wild pitch. C Ramon Cabrera then singled to right with Rubinstein coming in from second, however Cabrera was caught between first and second and tagged out by Koncel to end the inning with the score 5-2.
Hickory pulled to within two in the eighth when SS Leury Garcia reached on a strikeout in the dirt against RHP Zachary Foster. Garcia proceeded to move up to third on two consecutive groundouts by Bonadonna and CF Miguel Velazquez before scoring on a wild pitch, rounding out the scoring at 5-3.
The Crawdads threatened to come back in the ninth inning for the second straight game against the Power. The frame started with a Koncel walk, before RHP Zach Foster retired the next two in a row. Down to their final out, the 'Dads sent 2B Travis Adair to the plate. Adair drove the ball all the way to the right field wall, but it fell just short of the fence and was caught by Rubinstein to end the game.
Thompson surrendered five runs (four earned) on nine hits and four wild pitches with three strikeouts in five innings of work to get the loss. Nathan Baker picked up the win for West Virginia with Foster recording his fourth save. LHP Joseph Ortiz pitched three scoreless innings of relief for the Crawdads.
South Atlantic League Stories from May 29, 2010
- Dominguez's Blast Seals 13-Inning Win - Augusta GreenJackets
- Big 7th inning propels Greensboro to win over Legends - Lexington Legends
- Crawdads fall short against Power, 5-3 - Hickory Crawdads
- Suns Set on Drive in Second Game of Series, 9-4 - Greenville Drive
- Suns Dominate Drive 9-4 - Hagerstown Suns
- Delmarva Pitching Downs BlueClaws - Jersey Shore BlueClaws
- Baker, Power Take down Crawdads - Charleston Dirty Birds
- Hobgood Stifles BlueClaws in 8-4 Win - Delmarva Shorebirds
- Intimidators Win Sea-Saw Battle 5-4 - Kannapolis Cannon Ballers
- Kannapolis Takes Advantage of Charleston Errors En Route to 5-4 Win - Charleston RiverDogs
- Saturday's Game Suspended - Rome Emperors
- Gnats Game Notes - Savannah Sand Gnats
- Shorebirds Game Notes - Delmarva Shorebirds
- Power Game Notes - Charleston Dirty Birds
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