CHARLESTON (Interstat) — Cooper Flemming hit a grand slam and drove in four runs, and the Charleston RiverDogs held off the Hickory Crawdads 7-6 on Friday, Sept. 11, 2026, at Joseph Riley Ballpark to tie the Carolina League playoff series at one game apiece. Charleston, the home team, improved to 72-60. Hickory, the visiting team, fell to 82-49. The game was Game 2 of the playoff series, and the outcome left the series tied 1-1.

Hickory took the first lead when Paulino Santana lifted a sacrifice fly to center field. Charleston answered in a decisive way when Flemming connected for a grand slam to center, scoring J.D. Gonzalez, Alberth Palma and Slater de Brun. The Crawdads kept pressure on with disciplined at-bats, drawing walks before Sebastian Baquera worked a bases-loaded walk and Yolfran Castillo added another sacrifice fly. Deward Tovar doubled home Santana to pull Hickory even, but Charleston reclaimed control with a three-run rally that featured four walks and a two-run force out by Dean Moss. A missed catch error allowed the inning to extend, and the RiverDogs carried a 7-4 lead into the later innings.

Hickory did not go away. Marco Argudin’s run-scoring groundout brought the Crawdads within two, and Kaden Carpenter’s groundout in the final at-bat scored Yolfran Castillo to make it a one-run game. With the tying run at third base, Seong-Jun Kim grounded out to third baseman Alberth Palma, ending the threat and giving Charleston the win. Hickory finished with seven hits to Charleston’s five, but the RiverDogs made their hits count. Hickory also used two sacrifice flies. Charleston’s pitchers combined for 21 strikes, 66 balls and 21 balls in play. Hickory’s pitchers combined for 21 strikes, 76 balls and 21 balls in play.

Riley Stanford was Charleston’s top star out of the bullpen. He worked three innings, allowed one hit, gave up no earned runs and struck out five. Bryce Shaffer earned the win with two innings of one-hit relief, allowing one earned run and striking out two. Yereny Teus recorded the save with one inning, no hits, one earned run and one strikeout. Jordi Infante also contributed 2 2/3 innings, yielding four hits, one earned run and striking out four. Miguel Toscano recorded one out without allowing a hit or an earned run. Charleston’s pitchers kept Hickory from mounting a sustained rally until the final at-bat.

Geury Rodriguez took the loss for Hickory. He pitched two innings, allowed two hits and two earned runs while striking out four. Louis Marinaro and Josh Owens were sharp in relief. Marinaro worked 2 2/3 innings with no hits, no earned runs and three strikeouts. Owens followed with two innings of no-hit, no-earned-run relief and three strikeouts. Will Whelan added 1 1/3 innings, giving up two hits and no earned runs with one strikeout. The combined effort kept Charleston scoreless after its go-ahead rally, but the Crawdads could not push across the tying run.

The game drew 3,154 fans and took 2 hours, 54 minutes. Charleston’s record moved to 72-60, while Hickory’s record became 82-49. The series is tied 1-1, with the next game to follow in the Carolina League playoffs. Hickory had entered the day with the better regular-season record, but Charleston’s late pitching and Flemming’s grand slam proved enough to even the series.

Interstat’s game simulator had projected a final score of Hickory 8, Charleston 5, and its ELO system gave Hickory a 55.4 percent probability to win. The actual result went the other way, as Charleston survived a late Hickory rally to earn the one-run victory.