Crawdads Late Rally Sparks Win Over Fireflies

Hickory, NC- The Hickory Crawdads pushed across four runs in the eighth inning to claim a 5-2 win against the Columbia Fireflies on Saturday night at L.P. Frans Stadium.

AJ Russell, the highly touted pitching prospect for the Rangers, made his Crawdads debut and was very impressive in his two innings of work. The right-hander efficiently struck out three Columbia hitters in front of 2,486 fans at "The Frans."

The energy in the yard was amplified in the first inning when Marcos Torres sliced a triple into the left-field corner with one out. Columbia, however, misfired the throw back into the infield, allowing Torres to jog to the plate for a 1-0 advantage.

In the sixth, Columbia got to Crawdads reliever Moises Morales (1-0) with a pair of runs to take a 2-1 lead. Ivan Sosa hit his second homer of the season to knot the score at 1-1. Later in the frame, JC Vanek singled home Sean Gamble to generate Columbia's only lead of the night.

Shane Van Dam kept the 'Dads off the board for three innings, facing just one over the minimum in his first action of 2026.

But the Crawdads (2-1) had their rebuttal in the eighth inning, again sparked by electric work on the basepaths by Marcos Torres. Torres opened the eighth with a walk, stole second, and moved to third on a ground ball from Yolfran Castillo. With Deward Tovar at the plate, Torres scored on a passed ball, sliding in just ahead of the tag from Randy Ramnarace (0-1).

Tovar drilled a double to right-center field a couple of pitches later, advancing to third on an errant throw from the Fireflies. Paulino Santana then put Hickory on top for good; the Crawdads outfielder claimed his third hit of the night, scoring Tovar for a 3-2 lead. Luis Marquez followed with a single that brought home Santana and Angel Arredondo to complete the four-run outburst, sending Hickory to the ninth with a 5-2 advantage.

In the ninth, Louis Marinaro earned his first save of the year, tossing a perfect frame to preserve the win for Morales. Santana's trio of hits was supported by Arredondo, who reached base four times in the victory.

For Columbia (1-2), Randy Ramnarace suffered the loss in the rubber game. After two days off, Hickory will travel to Kannapolis on Tuesday night to play their first road series against the Single-A affiliate of the Chicago White Sox.