LATE RUNS DOOM SHOREBIRDS IN 7-5 DEFEAT

Townsend and Conley Both Belt Home Runs

Hickory, N.C. – The Hickory Crawdads scored two runs in the bottom of the eighth inning to break a 5-5 tie en route to a 7-5 win over the Delmarva Shorebirds on Thursday night. Tyler Townsend hit his second home run in as many nights. The Shorebirds drop back into third place, a half game back of Hickory.

The Shorebirds raced to an early lead in the first inning. After Brian Conley flew out to center field, Omar Casamayor singled through the right side of the infield. Then, Tyler Townsend belted his third home run of the season over the left-center field wall.

In the second, Hickory stormed back to take a 4-2 lead. Zach Zaneski led off with a single. Then, Vinny DiFazio smashed his eighth home run of the season over the left field wall. Two batters later, Guillermo Pimentel singled and moved to second on a ground out. With two outs, Travis Adair singled to center field to give Hickory a 3-2 edge. Adair extended his hit streak to 14 games, the longest active streak in the South Atlantic League. The next batter singled right and the ball was misplayed by Brian Conley, allowing Adair to score from first.

Guillermo Pimentel added to the lead in the third. He connected on a single to left to score Zach Zaneski to give the Crawdads a 5-2 lead.

The Shorebirds battled back beginning in the fourth inning. Townsend blasted a triple off the top of the center field wall to lead off. Then, Kieron Pope hit a towering sacrifice fly to deep left field to plate Townsend.

In the sixth inning, the Shorebirds knotted the game at 5-5. Garabez Rosa hit a two out single. Conley following with a mammoth homer over the tall right-center field wall to knot the affair. It was Conley’s fourth home run of the season.

Hickory then plated two runs in the bottom of the eighth inning. Jared Bolden led off with a double inside the third base bag and down the left field line. Zaneski then flied out to deep right field and Bolden tagged to third base. Brian Parker intentionally walked Difazio to set up the double play. Then, Cody Podraza placed a bunt in front of the mound that Parker fielded and threw away down the right field line to score Zaneski. The Shorebirds contested that the runner was out of the base path and interfered with the throw. Guillermo Pimentel followed with a single to left field to score DiFazio.

Joseph Ortiz picked up the win in 3.2 innings. He struck out eight batters and did not allow a hit.

Brian Parker was pinned with the loss in 3.2 innings.

The Shorebirds play the series finale on Friday night at 7:05 p.m. RHP Patrick Kantakevich makes the start for Delmarva.