HICKORY, N.C. (Interstat) — The Hickory Crawdads blanked the Charleston RiverDogs 4-0 in the first game of a Sunday doubleheader at L.P. Frans Stadium.

Hickory scored two runs in the third inning. Josh Springer singled to left, scoring Esteban Mejia, and a forceout brought in Paulino Santana. Mejia then hit a two-run homer in the fourth, driving in Yolfran Castillo for the final margin.

Crawdads starter AJ Russell pitched 3 2/3 scoreless innings, allowing one hit and striking out six. Owen Proksch added two hitless innings with three strikeouts. Geury Rodriguez earned the win, working 1 1/3 innings with one hit and two strikeouts, improving to 3-1.

RiverDogs starter Dominic Fritton took the loss, falling to 0-3 after allowing four runs on six hits over five innings with three strikeouts. Charleston managed only two hits and struck out 11 times.

Hickory improved to 24-18, while Charleston dropped to 24-21. The game lasted 1 hour, 44 minutes.