Balking on Sunshine

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CarL Hickory Crawdads

Balking on Sunshine

April 26, 2025 - Carolina League (CarL)
Hickory Crawdads News Release


Hickory, NC- The Hickory Crawdads claimed their first walk-off win of 2025 on Saturday night, scoring twice in the ninth to defeat the Salem Red Sox 6-5 at LP Frans Stadium.

The Crawdads opened the scoring in the first, manufacturing a run on a sacrifice fly from Beycker Barroso to take a 1-0 lead against Salem starter Griffin Kilander.

The Red Sox responded immediately in the second as Freili Encarnacion homered to left against Hickory starter Dalton Pence to level the score at 1-1.

In the bottom half of inning two, the Crawdads were back on the board as Pablo Guerrero was plated on a sac fly from Erick Alvarez to retake the lead. Later in the frame, Antonis Macias scored Chandler Pollard on a base hit to stretch the lead to 3-1.

After a pair of Salem runs in the third, The Crawdads went back on top in the fourth, as Macias would claim his second RBI of the day, scoring Wady Mendez for a 4-3 lead.

Aneudis Mejia came on in the fifth, looking to hold the lead for the Crawdads (11-9), but surrendered a pair of unearned runs to trail 5-4.

Salem (7-13) would maintain the lead as Adam Bates pitched 4.2 innings of one-run baseball to leave the game with one out in the eighth, leading by the same 5-4 margin.

Not to be outdone, Mejia was sterling for Hickory, pitching the final four frames of the contest, facing the minimum while striking out seven Salem batters.

Fast forward to the Hickory ninth, where Chandler Pollard hit a high pop to the infield that no one was able to corral, putting Pollard at second with a lead-off double. Following an Erick Alvarez walk, Macias bunted over the runners into scoring position to set the scene for the final pivotal plays.

Rafe Perich evened the score for Hickory, with a slow dribbler to Salem shortstop Franklin Arias, scoring Pollard and giving the 'Dads a shot at an electrifying finish.

Jose De Jesus, pinch-running for Alvarez and advanced to third on the Perich grounder. On the very first pitch of the at-bat to Maxton Martin, De Jesus sprinted toward home, causing Salem reliever Nicolas De La Cruz to balk home the run, securing for Hickory one of the more unexpected wins of the young season.

Mejia would earn his first win of the year, while De La Cruz was tagged with the loss. The final line for Mejia saw him toss five innings, allowing one hit while striking out seven of the 13 batters erased by Crawdads pitching.

Tomorrow, Hickory's Ismael Agreda will face Trennor O'Donnell of Salem at 2pm for the series wrap up. The game will air on the Bally Sports Live app as well as MiLB.tv. It will be a unicorn party and Church Bulletin Sunday by CPS Construction and Atrium Windows & Doors.

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Carolina League Stories from April 26, 2025


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