Mark Parker Hickory, Daily Record sports correspondent
The Crawdads, playing as the Hickory Dickory Docks this weekend, lost to Aberdeen 5-1 on Friday at LP Frans Stadium in a rain-shortened game that lasted just five innings.
The Crawdads’ alter ego may not have won Saturday’s game, but their temporary nickname was mentioned on ESPN’s SportsCenter last week, and the website www.outkick.com also called it “the coolest (temporary) nickname in Minor League Baseball.”
Aberdeen (54-51 overall, 20-19 second half) scored in every inning to earn its first win of the series after Hickory (49-56, 21-18) won the first two games.
The Ironbirds are better known for their speed – they have stolen 300 bases this season – but the home run was the deciding factor in Friday’s victory.
Hickory starter Izack Tiger had trouble controlling his slow pitches, forcing the Ironbirds’ lineup to wait for a fastball. Of the six hits Tiger allowed in four innings, five came on fastballs.
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After two outs in the first inning, Reed Trimble hit Tiger’s fifth pitch of the game over the centerfield fence to make it 1-0. In the second inning, Anderson de Los Santos managed a walk and came home on Jalen Vasquez’s double.
Trimble hit his second home run of the night in the third inning to extend the lead to 3-0. In the fourth inning, Adam Retzbach hit a home run to right.
Luis Ramirez took over for Tiger in the fifth inning, but the Ironbirds’ lineup continued to move. Trimble and Creed Willem each hit a single off Douglas Hodo’s RBI hit, securing Aberdeen’s tally for the evening.
It started to rain in the second half of the fifth inning, but the rain held off long enough for Hickory to score its only run of the night: a home run to right by Gleider Figuerero.
The game was abandoned after a delay of 36 minutes because large amounts of water had formed on the sand warning track.
