The Hickory Crawdads baseball team took home a series win against the Augusta GreenJackets over the weekend. The Crawdads won 3-2 in a series shortened to five games after Sunday’s game was rained out.
After two wins, the Crawdads pulled away with another on Friday. Augusta pushed back with a win Saturday, but did not get the chance to tie up the series.
Friday win
Wady Mendez hit a two-run triple in the sixth inning and the bullpen held firm over the final three innings to lead the Hickory Crawdads to a 7-4 win over the Augusta GreenJackets on Friday night at SRP Park in Augusta.
The win was the fourth in five games by the Crawdads (15-16), three of four against Augusta (15-16).
Hickory never trailed in the contest, but the GreenJackets stayed close throughout the game.
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An error by Augusta’s starting pitcher Owen Hackman with two outs extended the first inning. Crawdads’ Pablo Guerrero made the GreenJackets pay for the miscue with his third home run of the season to make it 2-0.
An RBI single in the third cut the GreenJackets’ deficit in half. However, Hickory got the run back in the fourth inning, when Mendez’s force play scored Rafe Perich, who had walked.
Again, Augusta fought back with a run in the fourth.
The Crawdads again opened up breathing room in the sixth. Guerrero doubled and Perich walked to start the inning. A double by Macias brought in Guerrero. One out later, Mendez split the gap with a liner, which scored Perich and Macias to make it 6-2 Hickory.
Augusta got two of the runs back in the bottom of the sixth with a home run.
Luke Savage entered for the Crawdads and closed out the GreenJackets with two perfect innings.
The Crawdads added an insurance run in the ninth with Perich.
Pitcher Jake Jekielek (2-2) took over for starter Mason Molina in the fourth and tossed 1.1 inning of relief to pick up the win (2-2). Savage earned his third save of the year.
Despite giving up only one earned run, Augusta starter Owen Hackman took the loss (1-2).
Saturday loss for Crawdads
The Augusta GreenJackets scored three runs to take the lead in the fifth inning and eventually ran away with a 9-4 victory over the Hickory Crawdads on Saturday.
Saturday’s game was moved up 30 minutes to beat an oncoming rainstorm. Both teams seemed ready to go with the earlier start, as they traded the lead three times over the first five innings.
Chandler Pollard got Hickory underway at the start with an infield hit. A groundout and a passed ball moved him to third from where he scored on Ben Hartl’s grounder to short.
Augusta (16-16) got even in the bottom of the first. Owen Carey walked, and then moved to third on Eric Hartman’s double. Nick Montgomery’s flyout to right was deep enough to score Carey.
A sloppy inning netted Hickory a run in the third. Marcos Torres reached on catcher’s interference, which knocked Montgomery out of the game. Two more errors sandwiched around Torres’ steal of third brought him home.
Isaiah Drake’s two-run triple put the GreenJackets back in front 3-2.
Reliever Angel Anazco took the ball for Hickory in the fifth, and the GreenJackets went to work against the lefty. Augusta’s John Gil opened with an infield hit to Pollard at short. Pollard’s throw to first was wild, which allowed Gil to sprint to third from where he later scored on a single.
One out later, Anazco walked one ahead of an RBI single to score. Augusta loaded the bases. After Alberto Mota replaced Anazco, Mota unleashed a wild pitch which scored one from third and made it 6-4.
Augusta relievers Jackson Dannelley and Jacob Gomez each posted two hitless innings to close out the Crawdads lineup.
The GreenJackets sealed it from there with three more runs.
Rayven Antonio pitched the first five innings for Augusta and was the pitcher of record when it took the lead for good in the fifth. Antonio improved to 3-0 with the victory.
Anazco dropped to 0-1 with the loss.
