HobbsDailyReport.com
GASPARINI
HICKORY – The Lexington (Ky.) Legends got their licks in on Thursday night, using three home runs to beat Hickory 9-1 in South Atlantic League (SAL) baseball.
Outhitting the Crawdads 11-5, the Legends rode homers by Gabriel Cancel, Emmanuel Rivera and Marten Gasparini to a victory before 1,325 fans.
Hickory (49-61, 22-18 second half) still shares first place in the SAL Northern Division with Hagerstown (Md.) because Lakewood (N.J.) scored three runs in the ninth inning at home to nip the Suns 5-4 on Thursday night.
Lexington (53-55, 19-20) shares fourth place with Greenville (S.C.) in the Southern Division, both six games back of division-leading Charleston (S.C.).
Game 2 of the Crawdads’ four-game set with Lexington is Friday night at 7 p.m. at L.P. Frans Stadium.
CURRENT HOMESTAND
Thursday, 7 p.m. –Lexington 9, Crawdads 1
Friday, 7 p.m. — Lexington, Ky.
Saturday, 6 p.m. — Lexington, Ky.
Sunday, 5 p.m. — Lexington, Ky.
Monday, 7 p.m. — Greensboro
Tuesday, 7 p.m. — Greensboro
Wednesday, noon — Greensboro
On Thursday night, the Legends had four players – Khalil Lee, Rivera, Meibrys Viloria and John Brontsema — with two hits each.
Blaine Prescott, Leody Taveras, Alex Kowalczyk, Yohel Pozo and Anderson Tejeda each had one hit for Hickory and Taveras drove in Hickory’s only run.
Lexington starter Garrett Davila (7-6) worked six innings to gain a win. He gave up one hit, no runs, walked two and struck out five. Reliever Ofreidy Gomzez picked us his second save of the season, going three innings. He gave up four hits, one run (earned) walked none and struck out two.
The Legends scored three runs in the third and fourth innings to go up 6-0, and Gasparini hit a three-run home run, his ninth of the year, in the ninth inning.
Cancel’s two-run home run came in the fourth inning (he has 12 for the year), and Rivera hit a three-run home run, his 11th, in the fifth inning.
Hickory starter Michael Matuella (2-6) took the loss, pitching five innings. He gave up five hits, six runs (all earned), walked one and struck out three.
The Crawdads are in a tight second-half race in the Northern Division. They are 22-18, Hagerstown is 21-17 and third-place Delmarva (Md.), which fell 5-4 at West Virginia on Thursday night, is 20-19 and 1 ½ games back of Hickory and Hagerstown.
For Thursday’s boxscore, click the link below.
http://www.milb.com/milb/stats/stats.jsp?gid=2017_08_03_lexafx_hicafx_1&t=g_box&did=milb&sid=t448