Four-Run Fourth Keeps Crawdads Rolling

Hickory, NC- The Hickory Crawdads used a four-run fourth inning to take a lead on Tuesday night and a stellar performance from the bullpen preserved a 6-2 win over the Fayetteville Woodpeckers at LP Frans Stadium.

Connor O'Hara and Aubrey Smith started the game for their respective clubs, as O'Hara was looking for his first win of 2026.

The two starters exchanged zeros through the first three frames before Fayetteville jumped on top with an RBI single from Aaron Piasecki to take a 1-0 lead in the fourth.

The Crawdads, however, would mount a rebuttal, posting four runs off Smith to take a 4-1 lead.

The Crawdads collected three hits in the frame and benefited from a pair of walks that set the stage for Josh Springer.

The Hickory backstop whistled a single through the drawn-in defense, scoring Paulino Santana and Brandon Crabtree to give the 'Dads a 3-1 lead.

Daniel Flames capped the fourth with a sacrifice fly, upping the lead to 4-1.

From there, the Hickory (78-47, 44-17) bullpen caged the Woodpeckers' offense.

Brandon Jaenke, Julius Sanchez and Michael Trausch tossed 4.2 innings of one-hit baseball, allowing no runs, and no walks, while striking out four batters.

Jaenke (2-0) earned the win for the Crawdads, as Smith (1-7) suffered the loss for Fayetteville (71-54, 39-21).

The win for Hickory extends their win streak to eleven games, while simultaneously snapping a thirteen-game win streak for the Northern Division's second-half champions.

Seong-Jun Kim is slated to take the mound for Hickory tomorrow in game two of the series, with first pitch set for 7pm.