SAL1 Hickory Crawdads

'Dads come up short against Legends, 7-5

June 5, 2010 - South Atlantic League (SAL1)
Hickory Crawdads News Release


HICKORY, NC - The Hickory Crawdads threatened with the bases loaded in the bottom of the ninth, but fell just short, 7-5, against the Lexington Legends before 4,141 fans on Madison Bumgarner Bobblhead Night at L.P. Frans Stadium on Saturday night.

With Lexington leading, 7-5, going into the bottom of the ninth, closer RHP Kirk Clark was called upon to put an end to the ballgame. 2B Edwin Garcia greeted Clark with a leadoff single to right and was followed by 1B Mike Ortiz, who drew a walk. 2B Travis Adair then stepped up to the plate to pinch hit for C Leonel De Los Santos and was promptly struck by a Clark fastball to load the bases without an out in the inning. The Crawdads (34-23) appeared to have an opportunity to score at least one run on a bloop fly ball to left by SS Leury Garcia, but LF Jacob Goebbert made a diving catch for the first out of the inning with the runners staying put on the play. Clark then settled down to strikeout both RF Jared Prince and CF Miguel Velazquez to end the threat and the ballgame, 7-5.

The Legends (28-29) scored first in the bottom of the second. 'Dads starter RHP Joe Wieland (4-4, 4.43 ERA) began the inning by walking 1B Kody Hinze before DH Aaron Bray tripled down the right field line to bring in Hinze. After inducing a pop-up from 3B Jonathan Meyer, C Rene Garcia doubled to left to bring in Bray and give Lexington an early 2-0 lead.

The Legends expanded the lead in the top of the fifth with three more runs. With one out, RF J.D. Martinez doubled to center and scored on a two-out single by Bray. Meyer followed with a double to put runners at second and third for Garcia, who delivered with a two-run single to make it a 5-0 ballgame.

Hickory came back with a pair of runs in the bottom half of the frame. LF Cristian Santana led off with a walk and moved to second on a groundout by Edwin Garcia. Ortiz then drove in Santana with an RBI single to center and took second on a throw to the plate. De Los Santos kept the momentum going with a single that hopped right over Meyer at third and plated Ortiz from second, cutting the deficit to 5-2.

Lexington added another run in the top of the sixth, but the Crawdads answered back with three of their own in the bottom of the inning. Prince led things off with a single to right off reliever RHP Arcenio Leon. Two wild pitches by Leon moved Prince to third before Velazquez took first on a walk. Two outs later, 3B Matt West was hit by a pitch to load the bases. Edwin Garcia then singled to center to bring home both Prince and Velazquez before Ortiz smacked another single to center to score West and pull the 'Dads within a run, 6-5.

The Legends tacked on an insurance run in the top of the ninth to cap the scoring at 7-5, before the Crawdads attempted come back came up just short. LHP Luis Cruz (1-0, 4.72) allowed two runs on three hits and a walk with a strikeout in five innings to pick up the win for Lexington. Wieland surrendered five runs on 11 hits and two walks while fanning two over five innings to get tagged with the loss. Clark picked up the save with a scoreless ninth.

Check out the Hickory Crawdads Statistics



South Atlantic League Stories from June 5, 2010


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.

OurSports Central