HobbsDailyReport.com
POZO
LAKEWOOD, N.J. – The Crawdads reached 20 wins in the second half of the South Atlantic League (SAL) season on Sunday afternoon, scoring all their runs over the last two innings to beat host Lakewood (N.J.) 4-3.
Blaine Prescott, Anderson Tejeda and Yohel Pozo each had RBI hits in the final two at-bats, and the Crawdads (47-59, 20-16) rallied to win a series finale over the BlueClaws (55-51, 15-21).
Pozo went 3-for-4, Prescott had two hits and Eric Jones added an RBI as Hickory overcame a 2-0 deficit to win before a crowd of 5,331.
The Crawdads open another road series on Monday night at Hagerstown (Md.), which beat West Virginia 2-1 in 11 innings on Sunday to move atop the SAL’s Northern Division at 20-14.
Delmarva (Md.) is 20-15 and a half-game up on Hickory after falling 1-0 on Sunday against Greensboro.
Kyle Cody continued to throw well for the Crawdads. He did not gain a win but he went 4 2/3 innings, gave up five hits, two runs (both earned), walked two and struck out 11.
After C.J. Pelham struck out four over 2 1/3 innings, Kaleb Fontenot (5-2) came on to earn a win. He pitched two innings and gave up one hit, closing the game with a swinging strikeout of Mickey Moniak with runners on base.
Lakewood led 1-0 after scoring in the third inning when Jesus Alastre and Daniel Brito singled, Arquimedes Gamboa walked and Moniak had an RBI sacrifice fly.
It was 2-0 after a fourth-inning run by the BlueClaws. Henri Lartigue led off the inning with a single and took third, with two outs, on a wild pitch by Cody. Raul Rivas’ single scored a run for a two-run edge.
The Crawdads pulled even at 2 in the eighth inning via a run-scoring groundout by Jenkins and Prescott’s RBI single.
In the ninth inning, Charles Leblanc singled with two outs. Hickory went up 3-2 on Tejeda’s triple and by two runs on Pozo’s single.
Lakewood scored in the bottom of the ninth inning after two outs – Alastre doubled, Brito walked and Gomboa singled before Fontenot struck out Moniak to end the game.
Brito and Alastre each had two hits for the BlueClaws, who had eight.
Will Hibbs (5-3), in relief of Sixto Sanchez, took the loss. He pitched one inning, giving up three hits, two runs (both earned) and walked one. Sanchez finished six innings, giving up two hits, and he struck out six.
The Crawdads have three more road games on this trip – Monday through Wednesday in Hagerstown – before starting a seven-game homestand on Thursday.
Lexington (Ky.) visits L.P. Frans Stadium on Thursday through next Sunday. The first three games are at 7 p.m. and the series finale is at 6 p.m.
Greensboro is the back half of the homestand, arriving on Aug. 7 to play games through Aug 9.
For Sunday’s boxscore, click on the link below.
http://www.milb.com/milb/stats/stats.jsp?gid=2017_07_30_hicafx_lwdafx_1&t=g_box&did=milb&sid=t448