HobbsDailyReport.com
HICKORY – The Hickory Crawdads put it together on Sunday – with solid pitching and home runs by Charles Leblanc and Leody Taveras – to beat Lexington (Ky.) 5-1 and take over sole possession of first place in their division.
WEICKEL
Crawdads starter Walker Weickel and reliever Christian Torres retired 14 straight batters at one point as Hickory (51-62, 24-19 second half) won before 1,025 fans at L.P. Frans Stadium.
The Crawdads gained first place in the South Atlantic League’s Northern Division when Lakewood (N.J.) edged Hagerstown (Md.) 3-2 in 10 innings on Sunday.
Hickory is one game up on both Hagerstown (22-19) and Greensboro (22-19) – a 7-0 winner over Kannapolis on Sunday – with Greensboro coming to Frans to start at three-game series on Monday night at 7 p.m.
Greensboro and Hickory play again Tuesday at 7 p.m. and close the series Wednesday at noon.
The Crawdads trailed 1-0 early on Sunday, after the Legends’ Gabriel Cancel tripled and scored on a single by Vance Vizcaino in the second inning.
CURRENT HOMESTAND
Monday, 7 p.m. — Greensboro
Tuesday, 7 p.m. — Greensboro
Wednesday, noon — Greensboro
In the bottom of the second inning, Yohel Pozo singled and Leblanc hit a home run, his third of the year, and Hickory led 2-1.
Leblanc and Anderson Tejeda singled in the third inning, and a fielder’s choice RBI by Brendon Davis made it 3-1.
Taveras led off the fifth inning with a home run – his seventh of the year – to push the Crawdads ahead 4-1.
Blaine Prescott, who went 2-for-5, had a run-scoring double in the sixth inning to give Hickory a four-run lead.
Leblanc went 3-for-4 as the Crawdads outhit the Legends 8-7.
Vizcaino and Angelo Castellano each went 2-for-4 for Lexington (54-57, 20-22) and Viloria had a triple and an RBI.
Weickel (4-3) pitches six inning to get a win. He gave up five hits, a run (earned), walked none and struck out three. Torres, gaining his fourth save of the season, went three innings. He gave up two hits, no runs and struck out one.
Lexington starter Anthony Bender (4-4) took a loss after going five innings, giving up six hits, four runs (three earned) with one walk and six strikeouts.
For Sunday’s boxscore, click on the link below.
http://www.milb.com/milb/stats/stats.jsp?gid=2017_08_06_lexafx_hicafx_1&t=g_box&did=milb&sid=t448