HICKORY, N.C. (Interstat) — Jacob Johnson tossed five scoreless innings and the Hickory Crawdads blanked the Fayetteville Woodpeckers 2-0 on Saturday, Sept. 5, 2026, at L.P. Frans Stadium in front of 3,104 fans.

Johnson (1-0) gave up no hits and struck out one. Adrian Ardines (0-1) took the loss, allowing two hits and one earned run over four innings with two strikeouts. Carson Estridge permitted one run in three relief innings, while John Carver added a scoreless inning.

Hickory scored in the third when Curley Martha crossed on a double play grounder. The Crawdads added a run in the seventh when Daniel Flames scored on Yolfran Castillo’s sacrifice bunt. Castillo had an RBI despite going 0-for-1. Hickory grounded into three double plays but still improved to 85-48.

J.D. McReynolds earned his eighth save with two scoreless innings, striking out three. Cole Fehrman also threw two scoreless innings, allowing one hit. Fayetteville outhit Hickory 4-2 but couldn’t push a run across. Kam Durnin had two hits for the Woodpeckers, who fell to 72-57. The game lasted 2 hours, 13 minutes.