The Last Thirsty Thursday Of The Season

I made it to the first Thirsty Thursday of the season (although it was a rain out) and I made it to the final one last night. In last night's final edition, the Tourists were victorious over the Hickory Crawdads 7-4. I was very interested to see the Crawdads because of all of the power numbers they were putting up and in that respect, they did not disappoint. Tourists starter Matt Flemer held the big bats of the Crawdads without a hit for 4 1/3 innings until an error by Shortstop Zach Osborne put a man on first and Crawdads First Baseman Kevin Torres followed that with a homerun to right field that bounced off the top of the fence and over for the Crawdads first hit and a 2-0 lead. The Tourists came storming back in the bottom of the fifth with 5 runs of their own, led by a leadoff homerun by Third Baseman Jason Stolz, his third of the year. The Tourists scored two more in the bottom of the sixth for a 7-2 lead. Flemer went 6 2/3 innings, giving up 2 runs and 1 earned run, with 11 strikeouts. He kept the Crawdads off balance with a great curveball and a sneaky fastball. Reliever Alving Mejias came on in relief and gave up back-to-back homeruns to a couple of the Crawdads big bombers in the top of the eighth. Catcher Jorge Alfaro hit his 14th and Third Baseman Joey Gallo hit his league leading 31st on the season. Gallo's homerun had to be one of the longest I have ever seen hit at McCormick Field. It cleared the bank of lights behind the right field fence. Tourists closer Raul Fernandez came on to strike out 4 in the ninth inning to earn his 14th save on the season. Catcher Michael Ramirez allowed a third strike to get by him on the first batter of the top of the ninth and allowed Fernandez to accomplish this baseball rarity. Flemer got the win and improved to 3-4 on the season.