The youngest player in the South Atlantic League had a moment that will be remembered in the annals of the Hickory Crawdads.
Jurickson Profar, the Crawdads’ 18-year old shortstop capped a three-run rally in the bottom of the eighth inning with an RBI triple to give the Hickory Crawdads a 5-3 win over the Charleston (S.C.) Riverdogs on Saturday at L.P. Frans Stadium in front of 1,991 fans.
Approximately 65 minutes after the conclusion of their game, the team found out they had clinched the first-half Northern Division title when the Kannapolis Intimidators defeated the Greensboro Grasshoppers in twelve innings.
Hickory (40-27) will play the second-half Northern Division winner, or a wild card entrant if Hickory also wins the second-half, in the first round of the playoffs beginning Sept. 7. Hickory would host Game 2 and, if necessary, game three of the best-of-three series.
The division title is the first for the Crawdads since winning the second-half in 2007 and the first first-half title since 2003.
Hickory’s run to the title took traction as it began the month of June in fifth place and 3 ½ games out of first as late as June 10. The win over Charleston (25-44) was the Crawdads’ sixth straight and 13th in 15 games.
“I’ve never seen a group of guys over the last two-and-a-half or three weeks with bigger drive and a will to win,” said Crawdads’ manager Bill Richardson to his assembled team gathered outside the clubhouse after the Grasshoppers’ loss. “You’ve earned it! This is your night! Enjoy!”
The rally finished a reversal of fortune for the Crawdads’ offense that struggled during the first six innings.
Charleston went ahead 2-0 in the first and scored an unearned run in the seventh for its third run.
Meanwhile, Hickory could only manage one base runner over the first six innings—a single by Andrew Clark in the fifth.
Clark got the offense on the scoreboard in the seventh with a two-run homer to right. That energized the dugout and the enthusiasm seemed to carry over into the eighth.
“I got into a hitter’s count, 3-1,” said Clark. He came back with kind of a curve ball and hung it a little bit. I put a good swing on it and luckily it went out.”
Facing Charleston’s closer Kelvin Perez (0-4), Jake Skole began the rally with a single, which increased his hitting streak to 12 straight games. The next batter, Jhonny Gomez, hit a potential double play ball to short. Jose Mojica bobbled the ball, then threw wide of first allowing Skole to advance to third. Gomez was retired attempting to go to second.
Teodoro Martinez then hit Perez’s first pitch inside the third base bag to score Skole. Martinez scored on Profar’s triple, which was pulled just inside the line in right. Profar scored the insurance run on a chopper by Odubel Herrera.
“Yeah, he does like that stage a little bit,” said Richardson. “That’s kind of why we let him go at 3-0. I’m real pleased for him.”
“I don’t know what to say,” said Profar during the celebration. “It was a great job by the manager. He’s been talking with us and keeping us calm and motivated and it worked.”
Ryan Rodebaugh came in for Hickory and struck out two in a scoreless ninth for his 10th save of the season. Joe Van Meter (5-0) pitched a scoreless eighth for the win.
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