HICKORY, N.C. (Interstat) — The Hickory Crawdads scored five runs in the first inning and never looked back, defeating the Hill City Howlers 7-1 on Friday night at L.P. Frans Stadium. Daniel Flames delivered a two-run single, and Deward Tovar followed with a three-run homer to put Hickory ahead 5-1. Yolfran Castillo added a two-run shot in the second inning. Hill City’s only run came in the seventh on a sacrifice fly by Juneiker Caceres that scored Jonathan Martinez. Hickory starter Daniel Keaney struck out six over 4 1/3 innings, allowing six hits and no earned runs. J.D. McReynolds (4-2) earned the win with 1 2/3 scoreless innings. Erigaldi Perez (0-1) took the loss. The Crawdads improved to 41-30, while the Howlers fell to 31-42. Attendance was 2,799. The game lasted 2 hours, 11 minutes.