Crawdads

HICKORY, N.C. - The Hagerstown Suns ended the 2002 season like they were following a local weather forecast. They hoped for a bright horizon but were forced to settle for overcast skies. Hagerstown finished the season on a three-game losing streak, dropping a 7-3 decision to Hickory on Monday in the regular-season finale. The Suns didn't show much better on Sunday, falling 7-1 to the South Atlantic League's first-half Northern Division champions. Hagerstown finished the year with a 63-77 record, including a 29-41 mark in a second half that was started with a 5-20 opening run. Hickory advances to SAL playoffs, starting today in Delmarva with a best-of-3 semifinal series.

HICKORY, N.C. -- Tyler Moore's RBI single in the fifth inning gave Hagerstown the lead, and Marcos Frias worked seven solid innings as the Suns held off Hickory 4-3 on Monday night in the South Atlantic League. Frias allowed five hits, two walks and one earned run while striking out four to improve to 3-1 for Hagerstown (23-25). Frias lowered his ERA to 2.45. Carlos Peralta worked two innings for his third save, walking one and striking out one. The Suns took a 2-0 lead in the first with the help of two Crawdads errors.

Suns lose in 11 By BOB PARASILITI bobp@herald-mail.com Hagerstown Suns Kyle Gross, 1-3, 3.04) at Lakewood BlueClaws Rob Tejeda (1-2, 3.58) Time: 6:30 Radio: WHAG 1410 When it came to playing baseball, give and take, the Hagerstown Suns went 0-for-3 on Thursday. The Suns gave Hickory too many extra chances, didn't use the ones that came back on the flip-flop and didn't score enough. continued Add the three phases and it equals a highly frustrating 8-6 loss to Hickory, capped by a base-clearing triple by late replacement Brandon Chaves to help the Crawdads earn a split in the series.

bobp@herald-mail.com Anthony Pannone will never be classified as an early riser. "I am usually getting up about the time we were in the third inning," the Hagerstown Suns starting pitcher said. But when Pannone had to answer the alarm on a 10:35 a.m. start for the team's first Education Day matinee Wednesday, he made it worth his while and taught Hickory a lesson. Pannone fired seven innings of four-hit, shutout baseball to steam the Crawdads and help the Suns to a 3-1 victory before a middle-school crowd of 2,659 for a game featuring the educational side of baseball.

By BOB PARASILITI Staff Writer For a split second, Vernon Wells had more moves than a game of Twister. The only thing that had more gyrations was the ball he hit. It was all Wells and it ended Wells on Friday, as the Hagerstown center fielder drove in three runs with a first-inning home run and an eighth-inning double to lead the Suns to a 5-0 victory over Hickory to complete a four-game sweep before a season-high 5,466 fans for...

Dorothy was right when she said, "There's no place like home," in The Wizard of Oz. At least the Hagerstown Suns think so. After finishing a 12-day road trip with four straight losses, Hagerstown rebounded behind an outstanding pitching effort from John Sneed and Lorenzo Bagley's three-run homer for a 6-2 win over Hickory in a South Atlantic League game Tuesday night at Municipal Stadium. Crawdads starter Hansel Izquierdo (2-3) allowed just one base runner through the first three innings before Jesse Zepeda looped a single to left to open the fourth.

HICKORY, N.C. - The Hagerstown Suns took advantage of three Hickory errors to score five runs in the top of the 10th inning and beat the Crawdads 10-5 on Monday. Derran Watts drove in the go-ahead run with a two-run single, but three straight Hickory miscues extended the inning for the Suns (21-10), who have won three straight. Ryan Coultas hit a pair of solo home runs and Mike Carp added a solo blast for the Suns. Matt Miramontes (2-0) got the win, allowing just one hit - a three-run homer by Steve Lerud on the first pitch he threw - over 4 2/3 innings.

HICKORY, N.C. - The Hagerstown Suns couldn't even say, "What a difference a day makes. " They had problems and it was only a matter of hours after the last game. Just 18 hours after pulling out a win in the 14th inning earlier Saturday morning, Hagerstown's pitching staff suffered from a victory hangover as Hickory unloaded an eight-run second inning en route to a 20-9 pasting of the Suns. Hickory jumped out to a 10-0 lead in the second inning, fueled by a misplayed grounder by third baseman Derek Barrows that limited Mike Musgrave to just two innings in his second outing as a starter.

Sean Nicol had his fingerprints all over the Hagerstown Suns' offense on Tuesday. Nicol had three hits with two RBIs and topped it off by scoring a run to lead the Suns to a 3-2 victory over first-place Hickory. The victory put the Suns (59-48, 19-18 second half) within 3 1/2 games of the Crawdads in the second-half race of the South Atlantic League's Northern Division. The two teams did all the scoring in the first four innings. A.J. Cole (3-6) went five innings for Hagerstown while reliever Paul Applebee closed the door with four innings of work for the save.

June 19 1981 - The Suns lose the first game of the second half as Scott Kuvinka hit a two-run double with two outs in the eighth to lift the Alexandria Dukes to a 3-1 win. The Suns, the first-half champs of the Carolina League's Northern Division, owned a 1-0 lead on a Kurt Fabrizio single in the second to support the debut of starting pitcher Allan Edwards. 1984 - Suns first baseman Jim Traber, who eventually played for the Orioles, had two singles and scored twice in his start of the Northern Division's 11-6 win in the 38th annual Carolina League All-Star Game.