The Hickory Crawdads defeated the Wilmington Blue Rocks 3-2 Tuesday on the road in Delaware.

Kumar Rocker, the number three overall pick in last year’s draft for the Texas Rangers got the start and struck out eight in five innings pitched, allowing only two hits and walking none. He threw 53 pitchers, with 41 of them being strikes. Only once did he allow a pitch count to reach three balls.

Offensively, the Crawdads struck first before Rocker even made it to the mound. Jayce Easley singled to open the game and advanced to second on a wild pitch. Max Acosta ground out, but that allowed Easley to advance to third. Alejandro Osuna hit a sacrifice fly to center field, allowing Easley to score.

The score remained 1-0 until the top of the fourth. Josh Hatcher hit the Crawdads first home run of the season on the second pitch he saw to lead off the inning, making it 2-0 for Hickory. The Crawdads tacked on an additional run in the eighth inning. Hatcher led off the inning with a single. He advanced to third off a wild pitch. Daniel Mateo drove him home with a single to center field. The Blue Rocks scored both of their runs in the bottom of the ninth, but it was too little, too late for Wilmington, as the Crawdads run their record to 2-0.

Hatcher went two-for-four batting with two runs scored. Acosta also had two hits for Hickory. Osuna, Hatcher and Mateo all drove in a run each.