Rome romps 'Dads
August 5, 2008 - South Atlantic League (SAL1)
Hickory Crawdads News Release
Hickory battled the Rome Braves to a scoreless tie through five innings Tuesday, but a dominant pitching foe and big sticks late in the game led the to the 'Dads 9-1 demise. The first half of the game featured a dazzling pitchers' duel. Hickory's Bryan Morris, acquired by the Pittsburgh Pirates from the Los Angeles Dodgers in Thursday's Jason Bay-Manny Ramirez trade, made a grand first impression with five shutout, two-hit innings.
He would need to settle for a no-decision, though, as Rome's Cole Rohrbough tossed a no-hitter through 7.2 innings en route to his season-long eight innings of work. Rohrbough finished with the win, totaling one single, one unearned run and three walks allowed against seven strikeouts in eight frames.
The Braves (22-23, 44-70) feasted offensively late in the game, notching 11 of their 13 hits in the sixth through ninth innings. Of the total 13 Rome knocks, nine of them went for extra bases: two home runs (two-run shots from both Freddie Freeman in the seventh and Carlos Lee in the eighth), an RBI triple from Freeman and six doubles.
Meanwhile, the Crawdads (15-30, 45-70) would finish with four hits, all singles, and three coming in the ninth inning before the bases were left loaded to end the game.
Rohrbough improved to 3-4 with the win, while Hickory's Charles Benoit took the loss and dropped to 0-2. Benoit surrendered six runs (five earned) on eight hits in two innings as the first reliever of Morris.
Of note for the Crawdads, Matt Hague extended his season-best hitting streak to 12 games, the longest active roll on the team. His is the eighth double-digit streak among Crawdads this season and the sixth to reach at least 12 games.
For Rome, Jason Heyward reached base all five times, going 3-3 with two doubles, two runs and two walks. Freeman finished 2-5 with his RBI triple and two-run blast, and Matt Kennelly went 3-4 with three RBIs.
The teams do not meet again in 2008 and split their season series 6-6. After the Crawdads swept the Braves in a four-game set in Rome May 16-19, the Braves took three of four in Hickory May 24-27 and the series the concluded Tuesday.
Hickory next plays Thursday night, when the Crawdads travel to West Virginia for a four-game series against the Northern Division-leading Power.
The 'Dads have not faced West Virginia since taking three of four to open the season at L.P. Frans Stadium. Hickory will send RHP Duke Welker (3-9, 5.01 ERA) to the mound to face RHP Lucas Luetge (0-1, 3.86 ERA).
Game time is scheduled for 7:05 p.m. You can follow the play-by-play live with Mike Janela on WMNC 92.1 FM or streaming on www.hickorycrawdads.com.
GAME NOTES: Game time was 2:37. Attendance was 1,172. ...With Tuesday's loss, Hickory has failed to win back-to-back games at home since June 13-14. ...Jason Heyward finished 2008 with a .511 (24-47) average against Hickory, finishing with 4 home runs, 11 RBIs, 14 runs scored and 7 doubles in 11 games played. ...Before the game, the Crawdads saw RHP Matt McSwain and RHP Ronald Uviedo promoted to Class-A Advanced Lynchburg. Hickory received RHP Francisco Ortiz from the Gulf Coast League as part of the transaction.
South Atlantic League Stories from August 5, 2008
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- Rome romps 'Dads - Hickory Crawdads
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