Legends hold on for 9-7 win over Hickory

(APPLEBEE'S PARK, Lexington, Ky.) The Lexington Legends broke a 3-3 tie with six runs in the seventh inning, but had to hold on for a 9-7 win over the Hickory Crawdads at Applebee's Park Wednesday night.

Legends starter Robert Bono held the Crawdads hitless through the first three innings, but Hickory opened the scoring with two runs in the fourth. With two outs, Aja Barto doubled to score Matt West, who had walked. Mike Hollander followed with a base hit to score Barto.

The Crawdads made it 3-0 in the fifth. Leury Garcia and Andres James singled to start the inning, but Jared Bolden grounded into a double play as Garcia advanced to third. West then hit a sharp ground ball that handcuffed third baseman Jeff Hulett for an error. Garcia scored on the play.

The Legends tied it with three runs in the bottom of the fifth. Singles by Hulett and Marques Williams put runners at first and second. Russ Dixon followed with a double to score Hulett with Lexington's first run. Albert Cartwright's sacrifice fly brought home the second run, and Eric Suttle, who had three hits in the game, singled to score Dixon with the run that evened the score at 3-3.

Lexington sent 10 batters to the plate in the seventh. The six-run outburst included five hits and two errors and was capped by Dixon's two-run double, his third double of the game.

Hickory came back with three runs in the eighth inning, including a two-run single by catcher Leonel De Los Santos. The Crawdads scored once in the ninth and had the tying run at the plate before Lexington reliever Kyle Godfrey retired the side for his second save.

Brian Wabick (7-2), who entered the game in the sixth and pitched two and two-thirds innings, got the win in relief. Andrew Doyle (0-1) was the losing pitcher.

The Legends and Crawdads will play again Thursday night at Applebee's Park. Game time is 7:05.