RiverDogs cough up lead in ninth inning

  • BY CHARLES BENNETT, Special to The Post and Courier
  • Posted: Thursday, April 29, 2010 12:01 a.m.
    UPDATED: Sunday, March 18, 2012 10:46 p.m.
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Starting pitcher Shaeffer Hall gave the Charleston RiverDogs eight strong innings Wednesday night.

Too bad he couldn't last nine.

Hall (2-0) gave up two runs on six hits through eight innings, but the Hickory Crawdads rallied with five runs in the ninth to beat the RiverDogs, 7-5, in front of a Riley Park crowd of 2,114.

"You're going to have a few of these over the course of the season," RiverDogs manager Greg Colbrunn said of his team's ninth-inning meltdown. "Hopefully, we'll come back tomorrow and put ourselves in a position to win again."

Charleston (10-11) was riding a five-game winning streak heading into Wednesday night's series opener against the Crawdads (11-10), and the RiverDogs looked well on their way to a six-game winning streak thanks to Hall. He struck out four and walked three while staying within his allotted pitch count.

"He threw the ball very well once again for us," Colbrunn said. "It was very positive. He stayed within his pitch count, and we were confident in him. He was mixing and matching with his offspeed stuff and just did a great job."

Charleston took a 5-2 lead into the ninth, but the Crawdads rallied, taking advantage of two RiverDogs errors.

"We just couldn't close the door," Colbrunn said.

Andrew Doyle (2-0) got the victory in relief for the Crawdads, while Ryan Flannery (1-2) took the loss for the RiverDogs.

The RiverDogs had taken a 4-1 lead with three runs in the bottom of the fifth, highlighted by Rob Lyerly's two-run double.

The game was scoreless until Charleston moved ahead 1-0 in the third when Zoilo Almonte doubled with two out and DeAngelo Mack followed with a run-scoring single.

Hickory tied it in the top of the fifth inning, when Cody Podraza doubled and scored on an error at short.

Next up

The Crawdads and the RiverDogs meet in game two of the four-game series at 7:05 p.m. today at Riley Park. Left-hander Robbie Ross (1-3, 4.82 ERA) is the scheduled starter for Hickory, while right-hander Graham Stoneburner (0-2, 2.16) is the expected starter for the RiverDogs.