The Crawdads got the run they needed to tie in the ninth inning, then didn’t get the run they needed to stay alive in the 10th on Friday night.
Visiting Kannapolis beat Hickory 5-4 before 3,993 at L.P. Frans Stadium with the help of two wild pitches in the 10th by reliever Jorge Marban to fall 2 ½ games behind the Intimidators in the race for the second-half title in the South Atlantic League’s Northern Division.
The Crawdads, first-half division champions, dipped to 26-21. Kannapolis is 28-18 and closes a four-game series in Hickory with a game at Frans on Saturday at 7 p.m.
Kannapolis wiped out a Hickory lead in the eighth inning, going up 4-3 against reliever Kevin Johnson when Dan Black singled with two outs and Trayce Thompson hit his 19th home run of the season.
The Crawdads tied it at 4 in the ninth when Odubel Herrera led off with a single, Tomas Telis singled and Christian Villanueva singled to right for the run before he was thrown out at second base.
Black gave Kannapolis a 1-0 lead with a run-scoring sacrifice fly in the first, then Hickory scored twice in the second – on Villanueva’s two-run homer after Andrew Clark led off with a double and was balked to third – for a 2-1 lead.
Ross Wilson doubled and Rangel Ravelo had an RBI single for Kannapolis in the fourth, tying it at 2.
Hickory led 3-2 after Alejandro Selen led of the fifth with a solo home run, his 11th of the season.
In the Intimidators’ 10th, Keenyn Walker walked and Carlos Sanchez moved him to second on a sacrifice bunt. Marban later intentionally walked Black. The runners moved up a base on a wild pitch, then Walker scored on another wild pitch.
Wes Whisler came on in the 10th to gain his third save for Kannapolis. He hit Kellin Deglan leading off the inning, then got Jonathan Roof on a sacrifice bunt and groundball outs by Braxton Lane and Jurickson Profar, with the tying run at third, to end it.
Nick Tepesch started for Hickory, going 6 2/3 innings and allowing five hits, two runs and finishing with one walk and seven strikeouts.
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