Crawdads

The Hickory Crawdads extended their South Atlantic League Northern Division second-half lead over the Hagerstown Suns to 3 1/2 games with an 8-1 victory Thursday night. Hickory (64-44, 24-16) took a 1-0 lead in the first inning against Hagerstown starter Robbie Ray (2-2) on Joshua Richmond's two-out RBI double. The Crawdads made it 3-0 in the second on a walk, Alejandro Selen's double and RBI singles by Kellin Deglan and Jurickson Profar. Hickory starter Cody Buckel (5-3)

Fun is a relative thing. The amount of merriment is often a matter of which side of the celebration one stands. It was hats and horns for Hickory on Thursday as the Crawdads used a fortuitous three-run second inning to build a 5-3 victory and claim a critical four-game series against the Hagerstown Suns at Municipal Stadium. “Like we have been saying the last three nights, that is a real good club,” said Suns manager Brian Daubach. “They are fun to watch. They really clicked in this series.” Daubach, the baseball purist, can easily celebrate Hickory's success.

The Hagerstown Suns found out that Momentum is a fickle guy. He only stays around the team that gives him the most attention. The Suns ignored him on Wednesday. Hagerstown failed to fully capitalize on a bases-loaded situation with none out in the third, allowing Hickory to come back and score seven unanswered runs en route to a 8-3 victory before 866 at Municipal Stadium. The Suns (9-4) were only able to push across one run in the prime opportunity and it spelled the end of their three-game winning streak and allowed Hickory (9-4)

The Hickory Crawdads took control with a five-run seventh inning and snapped the Hagerstown Suns' three-game winning streak with a 14-7 victory Wednesday night in a South Atlantic League game at Municipal Stadium. Hickory (64-57, 28-24) won the final game of the three-game series after Hagerstown (70-50, 28-23) prevailed in the first two. West Virginia (29-23) took over the Northern Division's second-half lead, with the Suns a half-game back and the Crawdads one game behind the Power.

HICKORY, N.C. - The Hickory Crawdads continued to put distance between themselves and the rest of the South Atlantic League's Northern Division. So did the Hagerstown Suns. Hickory won its eighth straight game on Tuesday, defeating Hagerstown 7-4 to extend the Crawdads' lead in the division while further burying the Suns at the bottom after getting swept in the four-game series. Hagerstown (9-22) took a 2-0 lead on Jhonatan Solano's two-run double in the third inning, but Hickory (20-12)

Suns dump Crawdads again HICKORY, N.C. - The Hagerstown Suns scored six runs in the fourth inning, keyed by Chivas Clark's bases-loaded double and Kurt Keane's two-run single to defeat the Hickory Crwdads 9-4 Sunday in South Atlantic League Northern Division play. continued Travis Hubbel (8-5) picked up the win, allowing two runs, three walks and five hits while fanning a season-high nine over seven innings for Hagerstown (13-15 in the second half, 47-52 overall)

by Richard T. Meagher / staff photographer see the enlargement Hagerstown Suns pitcher Matt McClellan had to resort to Plan B Wednesday night. --cont. from front page-- The Suns right-hander struggled with his fast ball all night, but was able to use his slider to throttle Hickory in Hagerstown's 5-1 win over the Crawdads at Municipal Stadium before 1,848 fans, the Suns' second straight win after a season-high four-game losing streak. "He struggled throwing his fastball for strikes the whole game," Suns manager Marty Pevey said.

Baseball is known as a game of inches. The Hagerstown Suns didn't need a ruler to measure just how close they came to completing a ninth-inning comeback. The Suns went down swinging - scoring three times in the final at-bat - but fell about a quarter-inch short of completing the task in a 7-6 loss to Hickory. Hagerstown dropped its fifth straight game despite having the game work even better than eternal optimist and Suns manager Frank Cacciatore could have planned. With the tying run on third, Nick Evans became the eighth man up in the inning.

Ivan Pineyro found a way to escape becoming a victim of Hickory's home run hitters. Don't let the Crawdads hit the ball. Pineyro struck out 12 of the 18 Hickory hitters who went down swinging over six innings as the Hagerstown Suns notched a 3-0 victory on a chilly, wet Sunday before 553 fans at Municipal Stadium. Pineyro (1-2) had his best outing of the season, punching out a dozen on 75 pitches, while allowing three hits - all doubles - and two walks. David Fischer pitched the final three innings - getting the first six outs on whiffs - to pick up his second save, while closing out the five-hit shutout.

Four Hickory errors helped the Hagerstown Suns build an early four-run lead en route to an 8-2 victory over the Crawdads on Saturday at Municipal Stadium. The miscues extended the first, fourth and fifth innings and allowed the Suns (12-11) to take a 4-1 lead. The errors were too much for the Crawdads (14-9) despite two more home runs to pad their South Atlantic League-leading total. Kylin Turnbull (1-0) returned to the Suns and immediately notched a victory with six innings of three-hit pitching, allowing one run without a walk while striking out seven.

Home runs are all about using negatives to make positives out of negatives. One mistake by an opposing team, leading to one mighty swing of the bat, can erase a multitude of sins. Joey Gallo carried that eraser for the Hickory Crawdads on Friday. Gallo connected for a two-run home run in the eighth inning to offset a pair of unearned runs and steal a 3-2 victory from the Hagerstown Suns before 696 fans at Municipal Stadium. The tightly played game yielded three runs - all unearned - through the first seven innings.

The Hickory Crawdads took control with a five-run seventh inning and snapped the Hagerstown Suns' three-game winning streak with a 14-7 victory Wednesday night in a South Atlantic League game at Municipal Stadium. Hickory (64-57, 28-24) won the final game of the three-game series after Hagerstown (70-50, 28-23) prevailed in the first two. West Virginia (29-23) took over the Northern Division's second-half lead, with the Suns a half-game back and the Crawdads one game behind the Power.

Taylor Jordan threw five shutout innings and combined with relievers Gregory Holt and Colin Bates on a four-hitter as the Hagerstown Suns defeated the Hickory Crawdads 5-1 in a South Atlantic League game at Municipal Stadium on Monday. Hagerstown (69-49, 27-22) jumped past Hickory (63-56, 27-23) into second place in the Northern Division's second-half race, a half-game behind West Virginia (28-22). The Suns took a 3-0 lead in the second inning against Crawdads starter Jerad Eickhoff (11-7)

The Hagerstown Suns learned a tough lesson on Wednesday. Mark it down somewhere. It doesn't matter how you start. It's how you finished. Hagerstown saw a fantastic beginning turn into a sour finish as the Suns rallied in the ninth to force extra innings, only to allow two runs in the 10th in a devastating 5-3 loss to Hickory before 1,109 fans at Municipal Stadium. The Suns scored two runs without the benefit of a hit in the ninth to stay alive, only to give back the runs with a pair of miscues in the 10th.

The Hagerstown Suns aren't just winning. They are physically knocking people out of the way to do it. Steven Souza Jr.'s played enforcer for the Suns by bowling over Hickory catcher Kellin Deglin to score the first run in a three-run fourth inning to lead Hagerstown to a 4-0 rain-shortened victory over the Crawdads on Tuesday at Municipal Stadium. The game was called after 5 1/2 innings following a 35-minute rain delay. The three-run outburst broke a scoreless tie and set the stage for Hagerstown starter Alex Meyer to a six-inning, two-hit complete game.

Call it natural balance. Every ying has its yang. Every hero seems to have its adversary … or adversaries. It's a relationship that keeps things honest and exciting while being extremely aggravating, especially when things don't go the right way. Superman had Lex Luthor, who had kryptonyte. Batman couldn't go anywhere without Riddler, Joker and Penguin … among others. A trio of foes - Greensboro, Kannapolis and Hickory - has all but Bam! Zonk! and Splat! the Hagerstown Suns out of South Atlantic League playoff contention.

Fun is a relative thing. The amount of merriment is often a matter of which side of the celebration one stands. It was hats and horns for Hickory on Thursday as the Crawdads used a fortuitous three-run second inning to build a 5-3 victory and claim a critical four-game series against the Hagerstown Suns at Municipal Stadium. “Like we have been saying the last three nights, that is a real good club,” said Suns manager Brian Daubach. “They are fun to watch. They really clicked in this series.” Daubach, the baseball purist, can easily celebrate Hickory's success.

Everyone loves freebies. Not even the Hagerstown Suns could turn down outs-off coupons. Adrian Nieto hit a key bases-clearing double and the Suns took advantage of three Hickory errors to score five unearned runs on Tuesday to notch a 13-8 win over the Crawdads to revive their run for a second-half title. Hagerstown scored in six of eight innings, including eight runs in the first four innings off Hickory's errors to end a three-game losing streak. “For about the last week, everyone seems to be playing good defense,” said Hagerstown manager Brian Daubach.