Crawdads power past West Virginia, 9-5
August 29, 2009 - South Atlantic League (SAL1)
Hickory Crawdads News Release
CHARLESTON, WV - The Hickory Crawdads struck for five runs in the top of the sixth inning to race past the West Virginia Power on the scoreboard and cruise to the 9-5 victory before 3,058 fans at Appalachian Power Park on Saturday evening. C Vinny DiFazio hepled lead the offense with a home run, a triple, five RBIs and a run scored for the Crawdads.
RHP Neil Ramirez struck out the side in the bottom of the first, but West Virginia 34-24, 61-67) generated a two-out rally before Ramirez ended the frame. Two walks, a hit batter and a single accounted for the run, with 1B Kyle Morgan drawing the bases-loaded RBI walk to make it 1-0.
The Crawdads (28-33, 61-69) came back with an unearned run to tie the game against RHP Quinton Miller in the top of the third. C Leonel De Los Santos was hit by a pitch to start the inning, moved to third on a SS Leury Garcia single and scored on a passed ball, tying it at 1-1.
West Virginia, though, retook the lead with a run against LHP Yoon-Hee Nam in the bottom of the third. 1B Kyle Morgan reached on a one-out single and scored on an RBI double by 2B Danny Bomback. The Power then moved into a 3-1 lead in the bottom of the fourth, when RF Starling Marte hit a solo home run to begin the inning.
Hickory battled right back to tie the game with two runs in the top of the fifth inning. De Los Santos started the inning with a single and moved to second after a Garcia walk. 2B Mike Hollander then laid down a bunt to third, and everyone reached safely on a miscue charged to 3B Bobby Spain on the play. CF Jared Bolden stepped in with the bases loaded and drove a pitch to deep left field for a sacrifice fly to plate De Los Santos and move Garcia to third. DiFazio the grounded into a fielder's choice that retired Hollander at second but scored Garcia from third, tying it once again, 3-3.
After the Power moved back in front with two in the bottom of the fifth, the Crawdads bats responded with five runs in the top of the sixth inning. De Los Santos hit a two-run homer with 3B Matt West on base and two away to tie it, 5-5. Garcia then got on with a bunt single, before Hollander followed with an infield single and Bolden reached on a wild pitch that he struck out on to load the bases for DiFazio. The Crawdads catcher went the other way with a fly ball into the right field corner for a bases-clearing triple, driving in all three runners and putting Hickory ahead, 8-5.
DiFazio struck again when he led off the top of the ninth with a solo home run for his fifth RBI of the game, accounting for the final score of 9-5 in favor of Hickory. RHP Andrew Doyle (1-1) pitched 1.2 innings of shutout relief to register the win, while RHP Corey Ragsdale racked up six strikeouts through three perfect innings to close the win and log the save for the Crawdads. RHP Duke Welker (0-11) was tagged with the loss for the Power.
South Atlantic League Stories from August 29, 2009
- Captains Dominate Game Two - Jersey Shore BlueClaws
- Stolmy Pimentel Earns 10th Win as Drive Blank Legends, 9-0 - Greenville Drive
- Demny deals, Higly nails debut in Suns' win - Hagerstown Suns
- RiverDogs Sweep Saturday Doubleheader From Augusta - Charleston RiverDogs
- Nicasio Not Enough In Asheville's Third Straight Loss - Asheville Tourists
- Hot Rods score 4 times in first 2 innings against first place Tourists - Bowling Green Hot Rods
- Crawdads power past West Virginia, 9-5 - Hickory Crawdads
- Allen, Campbell Lead Gnats To Win - Savannah Sand Gnats
- Kannapolis takes opener in Greensboro for 13th win in last 14 - Kannapolis Cannon Ballers
- BlueClaws Win First of Two - Jersey Shore BlueClaws
- Bullpen Falters Twice in Twinbill Sweep - Augusta GreenJackets
- Greenville takes series opener over Legends 9-0 - Lexington Legends
- Kannapolis Downs Hoppers With Solid Pitching Performance - Greensboro Grasshoppers
- Five errors cause Power to lose early leads - Charleston Dirty Birds
The opinions expressed in this release are those of the organization issuing it, and do not necessarily reflect the thoughts or opinions of OurSports Central or its staff.
