Crawdads Record 4th Shutout of the season
Published on April 18, 2009 under South Atlantic League (SAL1)
Hickory Crawdads News Release
One night after the offense took center stage with 16 runs, the Hickory Crawdads pitching staff returned to the spotlight as the trio of Richard Bleier, Tyler Tufts, and Mark Hamburger combined to shutout the Asheville Tourists 4-0 at McCormick Park in Asheville, NC.
In ten games during the 2009 season, the Crawdads pitching staff have already recorded four shutouts. The four shutouts have already equalled the total number of shutouts during the 2008 season, and have equalled or surpassed the number of shutouts in four of the past five seasons. With the shutout, the team ERA stands at 1.90 for the season, good for second place in the South Atlantic League behind the Kannapolis Intimidators. Hickory took at 1-0 in the second inning off Tourists starter Christian Friedrich. Mike Bianucci, fresh off a six hit night on Friday, connected for his third home run of the season to center. For Bianucci, it was the eighth straight at bat in which he recorded a hit. The home run by Bianucci placed him in a tie with teammate Doug Hogan atop the SAL home run standings; Bianucci currently has the RBI lead with 13. Asheville had an opportunity to tie the score in the bottom of the inning. Tourists' catcher Jordan Pacheco, who had four of the Tourists' eight hits in the game, led off with a double. Two outs later, Ryan Peisel singled to right field. On the play, Pacheco attempted to score, but Bianucci gunned down the runner with a strong throw from right field. Hickory added a run in the 4th with the help of aggressive baserunning. Jason Ogata and Eric Fry led off the inning with back-to-back singles. After a pair of strikeouts by Friedrich, Ogata and Fry performed a double steal. The throw by Pacheco to cut down Ogata went into left field, allowing Ogata to score. The Crawdads scored their final two runs in the 6th inning off Tourists' reliever Alan Deratt. With one out, Ogata reached on a single, followed by a double by Fry to the wall in right. After a strikeout, Jared Bolden lined a double to left to score both Ogata and Fry for what turned out to be the final 4-0 score. The winning pitcher for Hickory was Bleier, who picked up his first win of the season and dropped his ERA for the season to 0.75. Bleier pitched six innings, allowing five runs and striking out six hitters. Friedrich dropped to 1-1 for Asheville. With the win, Hickory (6-4) maintained its tie for second place with Lakewood in the SAL Northern Division, one game behind first place Kannapolis. Asheville falls to 3-7. The same two teams meet for the third game of the series Sunday afternoon at 2pm. Fans can listen to the game on 92.1 FM WMNC and on www.hickorycrawdads.com; Andrew Buchbinder provides the play-by-play.
South Atlantic League Stories from April 18, 2009
- BlueClaws take 3rd straight from Suns - Hagerstown Suns
- Grasshoppers Hold Off Greenville Rally to Claim 4-3 win - Greenville Drive
- Crawdads Crawl Past Tourists - Asheville Tourists
- Charleston Trounces Braves, 6-4 - Charleston RiverDogs
- Charleston Slips by Rome - Rome Emperors
- Sand Gnats pound GreenJackets, 18-3 - Savannah Sand Gnats
- Crawdads Record 4th Shutout of the season - Hickory Crawdads
- BlueClaws Benefit, Make itThree Straight - Jersey Shore BlueClaws
- Crawdads Crawl Past Tourists - Asheville Tourists
- Legends Shut Power Out Again - Charleston Dirty Birds
- Intimidators back in form with 2-1 win in Bowling Green - Kannapolis Cannon Ballers
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