RiverDogs edge Crawdads in extras to open playoffs

The Hickory Crawdads entered the Single-A Carolina League playoffs having tied a franchise record with 15 consecutive wins, while its .636 winning percentage (82-47) during the regular season represented the highest winning percentage in team history.

But in Tuesday’s opening game of a best-of-three division series against the Charleston (S.C.) RiverDogs — who won the South Division’s first half-title before Hickory took the second-half crown with a record of 48-17 — the Crawdads fell into an early five-run hole before rallying to take the lead but ultimately falling by a 9-8 final in 10 innings.

The contest was played at Hickory’s L.P. Frans Stadium, while Game 2 was played late Thursday in Charleston and Game 3 (if necessary) was scheduled for Friday night in Charleston.

Tuesday’s game saw the RiverDogs score on an RBI triple from Taitn Gray in the top of the first inning before they plated four runs in the second. However, the Crawdads scored three runs in the bottom of the fifth and two runs in each of the next two frames to grab a 7-6 advantage through seven innings.

After the Crawdads loaded the bases with no outs in the fifth courtesy of back-to-back singles from Deward Tovar and Josh Springer followed by a Daniel Flames walk, Tovar crossed the plate on a groundout from Curley Martha to put Hickory on the board. From there, Marco Argudin knocked in Springer with a single before a sacrifice fly from Kaden Carpenter brought in Flames.

Speaking of Flames, his two-out single in the sixth scored Tovar and Springer to even the score at 5-all. Then, after Charleston retook the lead in the top of the seventh, a throwing error in the bottom half scored the Crawdads’ Yolfran Castillo and Paulino Santana with the tying and go-ahead runs.

The RiverDogs’ Tom Poole tied things at 7-all in the ninth when he blasted a leadoff home run, while Charleston managed a two spot in the top of the 10th on an RBI single from Slater de Brun and a sacrifice fly from Gray that scored de Brun. Although Tovar countered with a two-out triple that scored Castillo in the bottom half, a strikeout to end the game left Tovar stranded 90 feet away from home plate.

In addition to the aforementioned triple and single, Tovar also had another single as part of a three-hit night. Springer (double, single) and Flames (two singles) also posted multi-hit efforts, while Argudin and Santana added a single apiece during a contest in which Hickory was outhit by a 16-9 margin and both teams committed two errors.

Seong-Jun Kim (IP, ER, 2 H, 2 BB, K), Connor O’Hara (4 IP, 7 H, 2 BB, 2 K), Will Whelan (2 IP, ER, 2 H, BB, 2 K), Louis Marinaro (2 IP, ER, 2 H, HBP, 3 K), and Brandon Jaenke (IP, ER, 3 H, K) were the pitchers used by the Crawdads, who allowed five unearned runs in their first postseason game since 2023.

Prior to Tuesday’s game, Hickory ended the regular season with a 3-2 home victory over the Fayetteville Woodpeckers on Sept. 3, another 3-2 win — this time in 12 innings — over the Woodpeckers on Sept. 4, and a 2-0 victory over Fayetteville on Sept. 5. (NOTE: The teams’ regularly scheduled season finale on Sept. 6 was canceled due to rain.)

Castillo (two singles, run) was the only Hickory player with multiple hits on Sept. 3, while William Privette earned his first win of the year thanks to 2 1/3 innings of scoreless, hitless relief during which he had two strikeouts and no walks, and Alejandro Chiquillo (2 IP, ER, H, BB, 2 K) picked up his first save.

On Sept. 4, the Crawdads received three hits (double, two singles) from Santana and two hits each from Kim (solo homer, double) and Jay McQueen (two singles, RBI). Additionally, Geury Rodriguez (6-3) was the winning pitcher following two spotless innings of relief.

Finally, Hickory won on Sept. 5 despite being held to two hits. Martha (run, SB) and Noah Franklin registered singles, while starter Jacob Johnson (5 IP, 2 BB, HBP, K) earned his first win on the mound to go with strong relief efforts from Cole Fehrman (2 IP, H, 3 K) and JD McReynolds (2 IP, 3 H, 3 K), the latter of whom notched his seventh save.