The Charleston RiverDogs opened the Carolina League Southern Division Championship Series with a 9-8 win in Hickory on Tuesday night, riding a ninth-inning solo home run from Tom Poole and a two-run 10th to steal the series opener on the road.
The best-of-three series shifts to Joseph P. Riley Jr. Park in downtown Charleston for Game 2 on Thursday, Sept. 10, with first pitch scheduled for 7:05 p.m. As the higher seed and Carolina League South Division first-half champion, Charleston is guaranteed to host Games 2 and, if necessary, 3 — meaning the RiverDogs need only one more win at The Joe to advance out of the division series.
Poole set the tone at the plate all night, collecting a three-hit game that included a leadoff double in the seventh and the tying solo homer in the ninth. Slater de Brun added four hits at the top of the Charleston order and later singled home the go-ahead run in the 10th, before scoring on a sacrifice fly from Taitn Gray for the eventual winning margin. Efrallin Ramos closed the door in the bottom of the 10th with a strikeout to end the game.
The comeback matters because Hickory came into the series as one of the hottest teams in all of minor league baseball, having closed the regular season with a 15-game win streak. The Crawdads pushed back after falling behind 5-0 in the second inning, tying and then taking the lead through a run of two-out rallies before Poole’s homer forced extras.
The series marks the first postseason meeting between Charleston and Hickory, whose clubs played 12 times during the regular season with Hickory taking that season series 7-5. Charleston enters the playoffs with seven players on its parent club’s top prospect list, including two ranked among baseball’s top overall prospects — a lineup depth on display in the eight hits produced by Poole and de Brun alone in Game 1.
Thursday’s Game 2 is another Thirsty Thursday promotion at The Joe with discounted drinks, and the RiverDogs plan to hand out a gold shirt to the first 2,500 fans through the gates as part of a cancer-awareness night tied to the postseason push.
