(Story courtesy The Augusta GreenJackets)
HICKORY, N.C. – Despite being held scoreless through the game’s first five innings, the Augusta GreenJackets tagged Hickory’s arms for 11 hits and eight runs in their final four chances en route to an 8-5 win.
For the first time this week, the Crawdads scored first, attacking early against Jeremy Reyes to post a run in the second. Pablo Guerrero led off the inning with an infield single, and took second on a Reyes throwing error. After Reyes punched out back-to-back hitters, Esteban Mejia clubbed a hanging slider down the left field line for an RBI double.
The Crawdads threatened again in the third, loading the bases, but could not score. Reyes allowed just one unearned run in 3.2 innings, despite walking a season-high five batters. The third was a microcosm of Hickory’s day, as the Crawdads drew ten walks and three hit by pitches but went 2-15 with runners in scoring position.
After Brooks Fowler fired five scoreless innings, the Crawdads attempted to give him the 6th for the first time as a pro, and Augusta chased him with a game-tying run. Isaiah Drake and Luis Guanipa each lined one out singles, and Juan Mateo looped a drive into right-center field to tie the game, playing hero in his fifth game as a GreenJacket.
With the starter chased from the game, Augusta kept the pressure on Hickory’s bullpen to put together a big inning in the seventh. Two singles and a walk loaded the bases with nobody out, and Eric Hartman drew a free pass to put Augusta ahead. Owen Carey followed up with an RBI single, and RBIs from Drake and Guanipa punctuated the four-run frame.
Hickory would not go away quietly, as they took advantage of Colson Lawrence’s lack of control to secure a big inning of their own in the bottom half. Lawrence hit the first batter he saw, and walked the second, before recording back-to-back outs. Even with two away, Lawrence could not slam the door, walking two straight hitters to end his night and put the tying run on.
Augusta sent Trent Buchanan out next to hold the line, but he walked in a run immediately, and ceded a two-run single to Yeremy Cabrera that tied the game at five. The swing did put the go-ahead run at third, but Buchanan retired Maxton Martin on a strikeout to keep it tied.
After each side traded zeroes in the eighth, Hickory’s defense fell apart in the ninth to give the Jackets the lead for good. Owen Carey reached on a botched grounder to third to start the frame, then came all the way around from first two batters later. Carey stole second, took third when the throw hopped into center, and sprinted home once the center fielder’s throw bounced past third base. The three errors gave Augusta the lead, and three more hits in the inning added two key runs of insurance.
There would be no second rally in the ninth, as Juan Sanchez worked a hitless frame to pick up his first save as a GreenJacket this season. Augusta has now won three straight games on the road, and have outhit Hickory 37-16 in the process. On Friday, Jacob Shafer makes his first start of the season as the GreenJackets look for a series win.
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