Caminero stars as Hot Rods sink Crawdads, 12-1
Published 11:00 pm Tuesday, May 9, 2023
Junior Caminero notched three hits with an RBI as part of a 14-hit night for the Bowling Green Hot Rods in their 12-1 victory over the Hickory Crawdads on Tuesday at Bowling Green Ballpark.
Bowling Green (12-14) began the scoring in the top of the first inning against Hickory starter Larson Kindreich. Carson Williams worked a walk and Caminero singled to put runners on first and third. Bob Seymour smacked a sacrifice fly to right, scoring Williams to put the Hot Rods up 1-0.
In the bottom of the third, Caminero tripled and scored on an RBI single from Seymour to make it 2-0. Willy Vasquez and Jeffry Parra walked, allowing Jalen Battles to bring home two runs on an RBI double to increase the lead 4-0.
Oneill Manzueta doubled off Hickory reliever Bradford Webb to score Battles and Parra from second and third, making it a 6-0 ballgame.
In the bottom of the fourth, Williams gave Bowling Green a 7-0 lead with a leadoff home run over the right-center field wall.
Dru Baker and Parra hit back-to-back singles to lead off the bottom of the sixth, and moved up to second and third on a balk from Webb. A wild pitch allowed Baker to score and Parra to move up to third, increasing the Hot Rods’ lead 8-0. Shane Sasaki drove in Parra on a sacrifice fly to right, moving the score to 9-0.
After Hickory (12-14) scored its first run of the game in the top of the seventh, The Hot Rods answered back in the bottom of the inning with a run off Hickory reliever Andy Rodriguez. Battles and Manzueta led off with back-to-back singles to put runners on first and second. A throwing error from catcher Cody Freeman allowed Battles to score from second, making it a 10-1 game. Bowling Green increased the lead to 11-1 when Parra scored on a double from Caminero.
Parra belted a solo homer off Hickory reliever Yohanse Morel in the bottom of the eighth to make it 12-1, and Roel Garcia closed it out in the ninth to help Bowling Green win by that final.
Austin Vernon (2-1) got the win, allowing one run on four strikeouts, two walks, and a hit in 4 1/3 innings. Kindreich (1-2) picked up the loss, going 2 2/3 innings while letting up four runs on four hits, three walks and two strikeouts.
The Hot Rods and the Crawdads play game two of a six-game series on Wednesday at Bowling Green Ballpark with first pitch set for 11:05 a.m. Bowling Green sends left-hander Keyshawn Askew (1-3, 4.91) to the mound, while Hickory is starting lefty Mitch Bratt (0-0, 2.70).