Tourists Hang Close but Fall to Crawdads

ASHEVILLE- The Asheville Tourists dropped their series opener to the Hickory Crawdads 6-3 on Tuesday night. Asheville trailed the entire game; however, the Tourists remained within striking distance the whole way.

Hickory plated three runs in the top of the first inning on an RBI Fielder’s Choice and a two-run Home Run. Asheville’s starting pitcher, Michael Knorr, had to throw a lot of pitches in the first inning therefore was not brought back out to pitch in the second.

The Tourists turned to their bullpen and Franny Cobos led the charge. Cobos threw four shutout innings with only one hit allowed. Asheville’s offense began to chip away. Logan Cerny led off the fourth inning with a Home Run to make the score 3-1.

Justin Williams drew a two-out walk in the fifth and scored from first on a Jacob Melton double to right. The game remained a one run contest until the Crawdads plated an unearned run off Carlos Calderon in the eighth. Melton responded with a leadoff Homer in the bottom of the eighth to bring the home team back within a run.

The Crawdads ended up scoring two runs with two outs in the top of the ninth to provide some late cushion.

Asheville’s bullpen combination of Cobos, Calderon, and Jose Betances pitched eight innings and gave up only one earned run. Melton finished with his third straight multi-hit game and has five extra-base hits during that stretch.