SAL1 Delmarva Shorebirds

Hanifee, 'Birds Shell Crawdads in Opener

Published on April 27, 2018 under South Atlantic League (SAL1)
Delmarva Shorebirds News Release


HICKORY, NC - The Delmarva Shorebirds flexed their muscles at the plate and on the hill for their third straight win, soundly defeating the Hickory Crawdads 7-1 on Friday night at L.P. Frans Stadium.

Brenan Hanifee (2-1) punched in his fourth straight quality start for the Shorebirds (15-7), this one the best of the bunch. The No. 10 Orioles prospect allowed one run on four hits in seven innings, walking two and striking out three.

A.J. Alexy (0-2) got knocked out in the third inning for the Crawdads (7-13), surrendering six runs on six hits.

Delmarva pounced quickly for another first-inning crooked number. Kirvin Moesquit served the first pitch of the game into left for a single, and Mason McCoy was hit by a pitch to put two on. After a strikeout, Seamus Curran glided a line drive into right, bringing home Moesquit and sending McCoy to third. T.J. Nichting followed with a hard grounder to first, and the only play was at first. McCoy scored and the Shorebirds had an early 2-0 lead.

Hickory threatened to get back into it in the bottom of the first. Eric Jenkins led off with a single and stole second. Miguel Aparicio walked, and Ryan Dorow dropped a soft liner into center to load the bases with nobody out. Hanifee settled down from there, though, and started by getting Yohel Pozo to ground into a force at the plate. The Crawdads got their only run on Pedro Gonzalez's sac fly to center, then Hanifee coaxed a groundout from Justin Jacobs to limit the damage.

The bats backed Hanifee further in the top of the third. Zach Jarrett legged out a one-out infield single, and Curran followed with an opposite-field home run, his third of the year, to make it 4-1. Alexy imploded with two out, issuing back-to-back walks to Ryan Ripken and Trevor Craport and letting them both advance on a wild pitch. Jean Carrillo then rolled a grounder deep up the middle for a rare two-run infield single, putting the visitors up 6-1 and sending Alexy to the showers.

Delmarva tacked on one more in the sixth on a Frank Crinella triple and Moesquit single.

Hanifee was untouchable after the first inning, holding the Crawdads to just two more hits on the night. On the rare times Hickory got runners on base, they did themselves in with double play grounders. Always a man to trust his defense, Hanifee got a stellar leaping catch at short from Mason McCoy on a scorcher to finish off the night. It was Hanifee's second straight start completing seven innings.

Nick Vespi came in for the eighth and ninth and mowed down six straight Crawdads, including four via strikeouts, to lock it down. The Shorebirds retired the final 14 Crawdads in a row to end the game.

Curran finished 2-for-5 with a home run and three driven in to lead the Shorebirds. Moesquit went 2-for-5 with a run and RBI, while Jarrett had two hits in his return to his hometown.

Dorow went 2-for-4 to account for half of the Crawdads' hits.

The Shorebirds go for their fourth win in a row against the Crawdads on Saturday night. Reigning SAL Pitcher of the Week Zac Lowther (2-1, 0.56) squares off for Delmarva against Hickory's Jean Casanova (1-1, 2.45). First pitch is set for 5:00 p.m., and pregame coverage on Fox Sports 960 AM and the MiLB First Pitch App begins at 4:45 with Will DeBoer on the call.20056adf68b8--

Check out the Delmarva Shorebirds Statistics

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South Atlantic League Stories from April 27, 2018


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