Crawdads cool off RiverDogs in rout

HICKORY, N.C. — The Hickory Crawdads scored runs in six straight innings and Jerad Eickhoff held the Charleston RiverDogs scoreless after a three-run first as the Crawdads (15-8) cruised to a 12-3 victory at L.P. Frans Stadium on Sunday.

The 12 runs are the most that Charleston has given up so far this season, but the RiverDogs still hold the South Atlantic League’s best record at 16-6.

The RiverDogs immediately tagged Eickhoff (3-2) for three runs in the top of the first inning when Tyler Austin hit a three-run homer, his sixth in seven games.

After that, however, Eickhoff settled down and allowed only three hits and no runs through six more innings. Overall, he allowed just five hits in seven solid innings.

The Hickory lineup took care of the rest, pounding out 18 hits on the day.

After being held scoreless in the first two innings by starter Caleb Cotham (2-1), the Crawdads tied the game in the third on RBI singles by Rougned Odor and Hanser Alberto and an RBI groundout. They took the lead the next inning when Drew Robinson led off with a double and scored on a single by Chris Grayson.

Kellin Deglan homered in the fifth inning to knock in two more runs, and Grayson added a solo shot in the sixth.

Hickory then scored one in the seventh and blew the game open with four in the eighth to close out the scoring.

Catcher Gary Sanchez had two of the RiverDogs’ six hits in the game.

The three-game set concludes today at 11 a.m.

Bryan Mitchell (1-1 2.45 ERA) is scheduled to pitch for Charleston against Santo Perez (0-1 6.75 ERA).