Mateo Belts 2 Homers in Blowout Victory

Hickory, NC- The Crawdads opened up the series against the Greenville Drive with a commanding 13-5 win on Tuesday evening.

The Crawdads jumped out to a 4-0 lead. Cam Cauley led off the inning with a single in his first at bat since coming off the injured reserve list. Maximo Acosta singled and a wild pitch during the next at bat put both runners in scoring position. Wyatt Langford picked up a base hit to left, scoring Cauley. Abimelec Ortiz walked and a throw down to second on ball four allowed Acosta to score. Cody Freeman followed up with a single to score Langford, but Freeman and Ortiz got crossed up, with Ortiz retreating to second and Freeman advancing, resulting in a tag out of Ortiz. Geisel Cepeda grounded out for the second out of the inning but sent Freeman to third. Daniel Mateo reached on a fielding error, bringing in the fourth run of the inning.

The ’Dads added on another run in the second. Jayce Easley started the inning with a walk and advanced to third on a pickoff error. Maximo Acosta hit a sacrifice fly to score Easley from third.

The Crawdads offense kept rolling in the third, getting three more to push the game to 8-0. Cepeda singled and Mateo drove his ninth homerun of the year to left-center for the first two runs. Yosy Galan crushed a homer in the next at bat, his fourth of the year with the Crawdads.

Greenville managed their first run in the top of the fourth.

The ‘Dads erupted for five more runs in the fourth. Cauley reached on a fielding error to start off the inning. Ortiz singled him in, and Freeman collected a hit of his own to put two runners on. Cepeda lined a triple to center, bringing in the second run of the inning. Daniel Mateo homered to left, his second of the night, to cap off the rally and give the Crawdads a 12-run lead.

Greenville got three across in the fifth but still trailed 13-4.

They added another run in the eighth but the ‘Dads closed it out to win 13-5.

The series will continue tomorrow night with Llamas de Hickory by the Greater Hickory International Council. It is also Kids Win Wednesday by Arby’s.