Pair of One Run Games Yields Double Header Split

ASHEVILLE- After a rain-soaked weekend, the Asheville Tourists and the Hickory Crawdads were able to take the field for a pair of games on Sunday. The first game was the completion of Friday night’s contest that was suspended in the top of the second inning. Asheville walked off in the bottom of the ninth for a 9-8 win. Game two was more of a pitcher’s duel and one that the Crawdads used a late Home Run to win 2-1.

In the first game, the contest was scoreless when play picked up. Asheville built a 4-0 lead on Home Runs by Wilyer Abreu, Alex Holderbach, and Bryan Arias. R.J. Freure kept the potent Hickory offense at bay until the Crawdads rallied for two runs in the sixth and one in the seventh.

In the top of the eighth, the visitors plated five runs, all unearned, to take an 8-4 lead. Enmanuel Valdez answered in the bottom of the eighth with a solo Home Run to bring Asheville within three. The Tourists then put together a huge ninth inning rally that included a two-run double by Shay Whitcomb. Three batters later, Luke Berryhill stroked a single through the left side of the infield to plate the tying and winning runs. It was Asheville’s second walk-off win of the season.

In game two, both teams had trouble scoring runs. Asheville left nine runners on base over the first five innings while Hickory left eight. The Crawdads did push a run across in the top of the fifth to take a 1-0 lead. In the bottom of the sixth, Whitcomb cracked an RBI double to the gap that tied the game 1-1.

It appeared as if the Tourists were going to go into the bottom of the seventh tied until Blaine Crim hit a two-out, two-strike, solo Home Run in the top half. That longball proved to be the difference.

The Crawdads ended up winning four of five in the series. It is the first home series defeat the Tourists have endured this season. Asheville will hit the road on Tuesday to take on the Rome Braves for a six-game series.