Eighth Inning Fuels 7-2 Victory Over Augusta

Hickory, NC- The ‘Dads used a five-run eighth inning to down the Augusta GreenJackets 7-2 on Sunday afternoon at LP Frans Stadium.

The Crawdads were seeking their third consecutive win playing as their Hickory Goat-Karts theme night identity, as Jesus Lafalaise got the ball, opposing Augusta's Brody Fowler.

The Crawdads got an early jolt in the second inning, as Kaden Carpenter drilled his second homer of the season over all four tiers of the right field wall to give Hickory a 1-0 lead.

In the fourth, Hickory's Pablo Guerrero singled home Yolfran Castillo, who led off the frame with a double, increasing the Goat Karts advantage to 2-0.

Jesus Lafalaise managed to keep Augusta (57-49, 22-18) off the board through five innings but would run into a GreenJackets buzzsaw in the sixth, as the club got run scoring hits from Jacob Jarrell and Cooper McMurray to even the score at 2-2.

The rally would spoil the effort for Lafalaise, as the right-hander would get a no-decision in the game.

Wily Villar would get a strike out and a pop out to quell the Augusta threat, sending the game into the latter frames deadlocked at 2-2.

In the eighth, Curley Martha singled to open the stanza against Augusta reliever Logan Forsythe.

After a Marco Argudin groundout, Paulino Santana coaxed a walk from Forsythe before Yolfran Castillo struck out, ending Forsythe's day with 2.2 innings pitched.

Styven Paez, who picked up the save in Augusta's 7-5 win on Wednesday, was called on to end the 'Dads rally.

Hickory, however, had other plans.

Pablo Guerrero doubled home Martha and Santana with an opposite field double, putting the Goat Karts ahead for good at 4-2.

Carpenter collected his second hit of the day, a humpback liner to right that scored Guerrero, boosting the lead to 5-2.

Deward Tovar joined the rally with a smash single through the right side of the infield to move Carpenter to third and send Luis Marquez to the plate.

Marquez came through with a single to right, plating Carpenter, upping the lead to 6-2.

With runners on the corners and Sebastian Baquera at the plate, Hickory (64-41, 30-11) executed a flawless double steal as Tovar stole, giving the Goat Karts a commanding 7-2 lead.

From there, Geury Rodriguez pitched a scoreless ninth to give the series to Hickory.

Julius Sanchez (2-0) claimed the win on Sunday afternoon, while Forsythe (2-2) was saddled with the loss for the GreenJackets.

After a day off on Monday, the Crawdads open an important series against the Kannapolis Cannon Ballers at Atrium Health Ballpark on Tuesday night.