Hickory 5, Savannah 0

Game one of the three game series between the Savannah Sand Gnats and the Hickory Crawdads was played in front of 1,335 fans Monday evening at Grayson Stadium. Hickory won the series opener by the score of 5-0.

It was an excellent outing by Hickory’s Luis Parra, who shut out the Gnats. He threw eight shutout innings, allowing four hits, two walks, and four strikeouts.

Hickory started the scoring in the third inning with two runs. They scored another in the seventh inning when left fielder Nick Vickerson reached base on an error; he advanced to second and scored on a single by first baseman Ronald Guzman.

The Crawdads scored their last two runs in the ninth inning. Vickerson walked and came around to score on a home run by Guzman, a towering fly ball that easily cleared the right field fence. That gave Guzman with four RBIs for the night.

Jake Kuebler started for Savannah, allowing two runs on four hits, two walks, and two strikeouts in five innings pitched. With the loss, Kuebler’s season record drops to 2-4.

Tyler Vanderheiden pitched two innings in relief, and allowed one run on two hits, one walk, and three strikeouts. Hunter Carnevale also pitched two innings, allowing two runs on one hit, one walk, and three strikeouts.

Game two of the series starts at 7:05 pm Tuesday at Grayson Stadium.

Key Stats

Kyle Johnson: 1-for-4

Phillip Evans: 1-for-3

Nelfi Zapata: 1-for-3

Jake Kuebler: 5.0 IP, 4 H, 2 BB, 2 R, 1 ER, 2 K

Tyler Vanderheiden: 2.0 IP, 2 H, 1 BB, 1 R, 0 ER, 3 K

Hunter Carnevale: 2.0 IP, 1 H, 1 HR, 1 BB, 2 ER, 3 K