Green, Power pummel Crawdads

Taylor Green fell a triple shy of the cycle Wednesday as the West Virginia Power pounded the Hickory Crawdads, 12-2, in the opener of their South Atlantic League playoff series.

Green collected four RBIs while pacing West Virginia's 17-hit attack. He went 3-for-4, slamming a leadoff homer in the second inning off Crawdads starter Mike Crotta and delivering a two-run double in the fifth as the Power hung up five runs before an out was made.

The All-Star third baseman capped his night with a sacrifice fly to center in the sixth. Green also sandwiched a single between his homer and double.

Green built on his regular-season success against Hickory. The 20-year-old Canadian hit .413 (19-for-46) with two homers, three doubles and 15 RBIs against the Crawdads. He was fourth in the league in hitting (.327) and on-base percentage (.406) and 11th with 86 RBIs and a .516 slugging percentage.

Charlie Fermaint hit a two-run homer in the fifth and Matt LaPorta singled, doubled, walked and scored three times.

Starter Alexandre Periard (1-0) benefited from the run support, holding Hickory to two runs -- one earned -- on seven hits and two walks while striking out two over seven innings. Dustin Lidyard finished off the game with two hitless innings, striking out three and walking two.

The Crawdads tied the game in the fourth when Bobby Kingsbury hit a solo shot to left field. Kent Sakamoto followed with a double, but was thrown out at the plate at the plate to end the inning when he tried to score on Eddie Prasch's single.

Crotta (0-1) absorbed the loss after giving up seven runs on 10 hits and a walk with one strikeout over four-plus innings.