The Hickory Crawdads defeated the Asheville Tourists for the fourth consecutive time on Wednesday night by a final score of 6-1.
The Tourists have dropped their last five contests, all at McCormick Field. Asheville never led in any of the four games against the Crawdads and with the loss now drops to below .500 on the season for the first time.
The Crawdads broke open a scoreless game with back-to-back Home Runs in the fourth. Luke Tendler hit a two-run shot to right and Tripp Martin followed with a solo blast to left. Hickory added one in both the fifth and sixth innings before tacking on an insurance run in the eighth.
Asheville’s lone run came in the bottom of the sixth. With Wes Rogers at third and two outs, Randy Reyes lined a single back up the middle plating Rogers. The Tourists did put runners at second and third in the eighth, as well as runners at the corners in the ninth, but came up empty on both occasions. Asheville finished 1-for-9 with runners in scoring position.
Zach Jemiola suffered his first loss of the year although he pitched well. Ariel Jurado moved to 3-0 on the season for Hickory by tossing six innings and allowing just the one run. Adam Parks earned some redemption against Asheville by working the final three innings for a save. Parks surrendered a Grand Slam to Forrest Wall last week in Hickory.
Yonathan Daza finished 2-for-4 and recorded his first multi-hit game of the season. Rogers and Wall also contributed two base hits apiece. The Crawdads are a league best 11-3.
The Tourists will look to rebound but will have to do so on the road. Asheville travels to Greenville for a five-game set in four days. Game one is scheduled for 7:05pm Thursday night.