The Hickory Crawdads opened a six-game series against the Jersey Shore BlueClaws on Tuesday night, falling 7-5 in the first game.

Jersey Shore jumped on Crawdads starter Josh Stephan for three runs in the top of the first inning.

The ‘Dads pushed back for two runs in the bottom half of the inning. Daniel Mateo led off the frame with a single and stole his fifth base of the season to get into scoring position. Josh Hatcher grounded out and advanced Mateo to third. Maximo Acosta drew a walk and the ‘Dads executed a double steal for their first run. Alejandro Osuna walked on four pitches and the Crawdads once again did a double steal. Cody Freeman hit into a fielder’s choice, getting Mateo out at home. Geisel Cepeda singled to center to center in Osuna.

The BlueClaws got another run across in the third but the ‘Dads got it back in the bottom of the fourth. Cepeda walked and moved to third as Keyber Rodriguez hit a ground-rule double over the center field fence. Angel Aponte brought him in with a single to right.

In the fifth, Jersey Shore managed to get three more runs to take a 7-3 lead.

The Crawdads clawed back for a run in the seventh on a double by Hatcher and a base hit by Acosta. They also scored in the eighth to bring the game to 7-5 but were unable to get any more runs. Cepeda singled and moved up on a walk and hit by pitch and came in to score on a sacrifice fly by Jayce Easley for the eighth inning run.

The teams will meet again Wednesday morning with an 11am education day game.