SAL1 Charleston RiverDogs

Hickory Rallies For Five In The Eighth, Dumps R'Dogs

Published on April 22, 2010 under South Atlantic League (SAL1)
Charleston RiverDogs News Release


HICKORY, N.C. - Edwin Garcia's eighth inning RBI double capped a five-run Hickory rally, as the Crawdads bested the RiverDogs, 7-6, in front of 2,020 fans in South Atlantic League action at L.P. Frans Stadium Thursday evening.

Hickory has now won three straight games in improving to 8-7, while Charleston has dropped five in a row for the first time since July 2009, sitting at 5-10 overall.

The Crawdads trailed 5-0 and 6-1 in the contest, and were down 6-2 entering the eighth against RiverDogs reliever Francisco Rondon. Leury Garcia led off with a home run to left field. Miguel Velazquez then walked and came plateward on a RBI double by Jared Prince. Matt West then delivered a two-run home run to left-centerfield on a 3-2 pitch to tie the game at 6-6.

Rondon was lifted for Gabriel Tatis (0-1), who gave up a one-out walk to Ed Koncel before scoring on Garcia's two-out two-bagger down the right-field line.

Charleston exploded for a five-run first inning, marking the most runs scored by the RiverDogs in an inning this year, while knocking Crawdads starter Neil Ramirez out of the game after just 0.2 innings. With one out, DeAngelo Mack walked and Luke Murton and Rob Lyerly hit consecutive singles to load the bases. Kyle Higashioka lined a single to left field for a 1-0 score, and Jimmy Paredes lofted a sacrifice fly to centerfield increasing the lead to 2-0. Ray Kruml followed with a RBI single, while three straight walks were issued to Francisco Arcia, Kelvin Castro and Zoilo Almonte to force in the final two runs.

Ramirez allowed all five runs on four hits with three walks and one strikeout in a no-decision, as Charleston sent 11 men to the plate in the inning. However, the RiverDogs collected just one more base hit in the game over the final eight innings.

Hickory scored its first run in the second against Kelvin Perez on a solo home run by Koncel, his second of the season, bringing the score to 5-1.

The lead was re-lengthened to five runs when Mack crushed his second home run of the year to straight-away centerfield, upping the advantage to 6-1.

Velazquez tripled to deep right-centerfield to lead off the sixth and came home on a sacrifice fly by Prince cutting the score to 6-2.

Andrew Doyle (1-0) earned his first win tossing a scoreless eighth inning, while Josh Lueke struck out the side in the ninth to earn his league-leading fifth save.

Perez took his second no-decision of the year for the RiverDogs in 6.0 solid innings, surrendering just two runs on four hits while issuing two free passes and sinking five batters.

Charleston's eight-game road trip concludes Friday night against Hickory in a 7:05 p.m. scheduled start time. Friday's starting pitchers both rank in the top 10 in the league in ERA, with the RiverDogs sending southpaw Shaeffer Hall (0-0, 0.46 ERA) to the hill and Hickory countering with right-hander Joe Wieland (0-1, 0.57 ERA).

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South Atlantic League Stories from April 22, 2010


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