Hickory Crawdads honor the Rangers, then fire a combined no-hitter

The Hickory Crawdads turned theme-night baseball into franchise history on Saturday night at L.P. Frans Stadium. In a Rangers-homage uniform tribute to “all things Texas,” four Single-A pitchers combined for the Crawdads’ third no-hitter in two seasons as Hickory rolled to a 5-0 win over the Kannapolis Cannon Ballers. (The game was played June 6, 2026.)

AJ Russell set the tone early, starting for the Rangers’ Single-A affiliate and completing 3 1/3 scoreless innings. The Texas Rangers prospect retired every batter he faced during his stint, striking out five while producing 12 swings-and-misses. Russell then handed off a scoreless game, with the no-hitter still intact.

Geury Rodriguez took over for the next four outs and kept the offense at bay. Rodriguez struck out a hitter but also issued four walks in his brief appearance, illustrating how no-hitters can stay precarious even when the ball is not finding grass. Still, the combined effort held, and Hickory’s momentum carried forward into the later frames.

After Rodriguez’s segment, J.D. McReynolds worked another 1 1/3 innings, earning three of his four outs via strikeout. With the game still 0-for-Kannapolis on hits, McReynolds maintained the shutout as the roster’s collective depth moved one step closer to completing the milestone.

Jormy Nivar then carried the final stretch, tossing the last three innings and posting two strikeouts. The no-hitter ended in the simplest way possible, as Kannapolis’ Javier Mogollon grounded out to short to close the game and seal the 5-0 victory.

For the Crawdads, the performance landed with a sense of timing. MLB credited it as Hickory’s first no-hitter of the 2026 season, following a run of two combined no-hitters last season, including games on April 8 against Augusta and April 18 against Charleston. More broadly, MLB noted that Hickory has now thrown seven combined no-hitters since 2009 and five since 2022, suggesting this is not a one-off event but a repeatable outcome.

From a Rangers-development perspective, Russell’s role also matters. MLB Pipeline ranked him as Texas’ No. 3 prospect, and the report tied his profile to a top-end fastball plus a slider and changeup. MLB also provided background on his jump through recent baseball levels, including his college success at Tennessee and an early professional ledger described as 3.42 ERA in his first 10 outings totaling 23 2/3 innings. On a night when multiple pitchers contributed, Russell’s start gave the bullpen an opening to finish cleanly.

What to watch next is how the individual rhythms settle for this group as they return to their normal schedules. Combined no-hitters can be as much about sequencing and command under pressure as stuff, and Saturday’s outing was notable for both the dominance (Russell’s clean run) and the moments of jeopardy (Rodriguez’s walks) that were navigated without breaking the no-hit spell. For Hickory and for the Rangers’ farm system, the next step is consistency, not just the headline.