Batista's Strong Start Not Enough to Snap Skid

ASHEVILLE- The Asheville Tourists fell to the Hickory Crawdads 7-0 in Tuesday night’s series opener at McCormick Field. Asheville’s starting pitcher, Edinson Batista, delivered a quality start and Franny Cobos struck out five batters down the stretch.

Despite being shut out, the Tourists offense started fast. Six of their first eight hitters reached base. Asheville stayed aggressive over the contests’ opening innings but Hickory managed to escape the early jams unscathed.

The Crawdads broke a scoreless game with back-to-back doubles in the fourth. Hickory added one more in the fifth then plated their insurance runs in the sixth and seventh. Batista finished the game with five innings pitched, two runs allowed, and four strikeouts. Edinson has not surrendered more than three earned runs in an appearance since July 2.

Ryan Johnson led the Tourists offense with a base hit and a walk. Korey Morton added a single in his McCormick Field debut. Asheville’s offense was held to five hits in the game.

The Tourists will attempt to bounce back Wednesday night in Game Two with the first pitch is set for 6:35pm ET.