Pacheco, Crawdads get even

Jonel Pacheco had two homers and a career-high seven RBIs on Friday as the Hickory Crawdads outslugged the West Virginia Power, 13-7, to even their South Atlantic League playoff series.

Pacheco ripped an RBI single in the first inning and belted a three-run shot, his first of the playoffs, in the third. The 24-year-old right-fielder connected for another three-run blast in the seventh to give the Crawdads a 13-4 cushion. The multi-homer effort was the fifth of Pacheco's career. He went deep three times against Greensboro on Aug. 22.

The native of Venezuela finished the regular season on a tear, hitting .471 (24-for-51) with five homers and 15 RBIs in his last 12 games. He led the league with 99 RBIs and ranked second with 27 homers. In nine games against West Virginia, Pacheco hit .343 (13-for-38) with two homers and eight RBIs.

Albert Laboy, who batted .500 (15-for-30) against the Power, went 4-for-6 with an RBI and four runs scored and Bobby Kingsbury homered and drove in four runs as the Crawdads bounced back from Wednesday's series-opening 12-2 loss.

Reliever Rafael De Los Santos (1-0) picked up the win, despite allowing three runs on four hits and a walk with one strikeout in 3 1/3 innings. Starter Matt McSwain yielded four runs on seven hits with one strikeout in 3 1/3 frames.

Charlie Fermaint hit a solo homer, his second of the series, and drove in two runs, while John Alonso and Matt LaPorta each had three hits and two runs scored for West Virginia, which hosts Game 3 on Saturday.

Power starter Shawn Ferguson (0-1) surrendered five runs -- four earned -- on six hits and a walk with one strikeout in 1 2/3 innings.