Garcia Belts Homer in 4-1 Loss to Hickory

HICKORY- The Asheville Tourists received solid pitching from Nic Swanson and Franny Cobos on Wednesday night in Hickory. John Garcia provided some offense with a deep Home Run to left field; however, the Tourists fell short to the Crawdads 4-1.

Swanson started and pitched into the sixth inning for his second consecutive start. Nic walked only one and struck out nine Crawdads on the night. The nine strikeouts are the most by a Tourists pitcher in a game this year and is one shy of Swanson’s career high which he set last year in Fayetteville.

Garcia gave the Tourists an early 1-0 lead with a solo Home Run in the top of the second. The Home Run for the Tourists backstop was his first in an Asheville uniform. Luis Encarnacion and Austin Deming also provided hits for the Tourists in a game where offense was tough to come by.

The Crawdads pushed across single runs in the second, fourth, sixth, and eighth innings but were never able to mount a big inning against the Tourists arms. Cobos surrendered one run in 2.2 innings of work with three strikeouts.

The series is knotted up at one game apiece. Both teams have a quick turnaround with an 11:00am first pitch scheduled for Thursday.