HobbsDailyReport.com
GARAY
CHARLESTON, W. Va. – An eighth-run eighth inning propelled the Hickory Crawdads to an 11-8 victory on Friday night in the opening game of a South Atlantic League (SAL) baseball series on the road.
Down by five runs after the seventh inning, the Crawdads (33-46, 6-3 second half) got key hits in the eighth inning to win and stay in second place in the Northern Division behind Hagerstown (Md.).
Game 2 of the series is Saturday night at 6:05 p.m. in Charleston, W. Va.
In Friday night’s game, Leody Taveras walked in the eighth inning and Carlos Garay, who went 3-for-5 with two RBIs, doubled. Back-to-back singles by Tanner Gardner and Ricardo Valencia then drove in two runs, making it 8-5.
An RBI double by Ti’Quan Forbes (2-for-5) drove in a run and another scored on one of West Virginia’s three errors, pulling the Crawdads within 8-7. Eric Jenkins’ single drove in two runs, putting Hickory ahead 9-8, and Garay’s two-run single made it 11-8.
Yeyson Yrizarri drove in two runs for Hickory, and Taveras, who had one hit, walked three times.
Albert Baur went 2-for-2 with a double and two RBIs and Carlos Munoz went 2-for-4 with a double and an RBI for West Virginia (34-41, 4-5, tied with Greensboro and Kannapolis for fourth in the Northern Division).
A crowd of 3,001 attended a game that lasted three hours, 17 minutes.
Nick Dignacco (2-0), the third pitcher used by the Crawdads, got a win. He pitched two innings, gave up two hits, three runs (one earned) with a walk and one strikeout. Kaleb Fontenot worked an inning with two strikeouts to pick up his fourth save.
Fontenot made quick order of the Power in the ninth inning with back-to-back strikeouts and a game-ending groundball out.
Julio Eusbeio (0-1) took the loss. He threw 1 2/3 innings, giving up two hits, three runs (none earned), walked two and struck out three.
Click the link below to see the boxscore from Friday night’s game.
http://www.milb.com/milb/stats/stats.jsp?gid=2017_06_30_hicafx_wvaafx_1&t=g_box&did=milb&sid=t448