Fryer heats up, hits for cycle

A night after watching a teammate barely miss hitting for the cycle, Eric Fryer made sure to cash in on his own opportunity.

Fryer tripled in the eighth inning Saturday to become the first player in team history to hit for the cycle as the West Virginia Power pounded the Hickory Crawdads, 17-1, at Appalachian Power Park.

Fryer was hit by a pitch in the first inning, then singled and scored in the second and stroked his 20th double and scored again in the third as the Power built a 10-0 lead. He slugged a solo homer, his ninth, in the fourth but grounded into a double play in the sixth.

He knew he'd get one more shot at making history, however.

"I was trying to do a little too much in that at-bat [in the sixth]," the Ohio State product said. "I knew I'd get another chance and I just thought if it happens, it happens."

The 22-year-old catcher/left fielder ripped a ball down the third base line in the eighth and got a friendly carom off the wall to give him a shot at reaching third.

"The ball kinda kicked away from the left fielder in the corner and got away from him," said Fryer. "I went into third standing up and it was a bang-bang play, I just barely got in there. I was pretty pumped. That doesn't happen too often."

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The cycle came a night after outfielder Caleb Gindl went 4-for-4 and fell a double shy of the rare feat. His teammates had some fun with it.

"They were all giving me lots of praise," said Fryer, Milwaukee's 10th-round pick in the 2007 First-Year Player Draft. "Gindl almost had one last night, so they were giving him a lot of crap, saying, 'That's how it's done.'"

Fryer raised his batting average to a South Atlantic League-leading .345 and has hit safely in 16 of his last 19 games. He was named the SAL Player of the Week on July 7 after a four-game stretch in which he went 12-for-16 with eight RBIs, including a 5-for-5, six-RBI performance on July 6. He is hitting .380 with 40 RBIs since the All-Star break.

"I haven't changed my approach a whole lot," he said. "I'm just waiting for good pitches to hit and using the whole field. It helps on a night like tonight, when everyone's hitting. It kinda lights a fire in you and you feel like you can hit anything up there."

Steffan Wilson went 4-for-5 with a homer, four RBIs and three runs scored, Zelous Wheeler hit a three-run shot and Ulrich Snijders contributed a two-run blast as West Virginia tied a season high with four homers. Curt Rindal went 3-for-4 with a pair of RBIs and two runs scored to help the Power (33-15) post their third straight win.

West Virginia starter Michael Bowman (2-1) was the beneficiary of the 19-hit assault, yielding an unearned run on three hits and a walk with one strikeout over five innings. Pedro Lambertus fanned two over three hitless frames.

Hickory starter Rafael De Los Santos (2-9) recorded just one out and was charged with five runs on two hits and three walks.

Austin McClune's sacrifice fly in the fourth produced the lone run for the Crawdads (15-33), who have lost four straight and 10 of their last 11 games.