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Early Miscues Doom Augusta in First Loss of the Week
Late Offense Can’t Overcome Walks and Errors From First Four Frames
NORTH AUGUSTA, SC: Cooper McMurray totaled four RBIs, and Carter Lovasz struck out a career-high six hitters in 3.1 scoreless innings, but the Augusta GreenJackets (13-6, 48-37) could not overcome the heavy deficit they faced early as they fell to the Hickory Crawdads (13-6, 47-36) 8-5 on Friday night.
The Crawdads took the lead two batters into the game against Landon Beidelschies, and never trailed in a wire-to-wire victory. Yolfran Castillo opened the night with a triple on the game’s first pitch, and scored immediately on an RBI knock from Paulino Santana.
Hickory chased Beidelschies with a lengthy third inning, aided by a pair of errors from Cody Miller. The Crawdads scored three runs on just one hit, but a pair of walks plus the defensive miscues extended the inning. Augusta would plate a pair on a triple from McMurray in the bottom half, but could not overcome the difference.
The Crawdads pulled out of reach in the fourth, scoring four runs against Ryan Heppner to spoil the start of his second stint in Augusta. Three hard hit balls, a walk, and another infield error plated four runs, and though Hickory did not score after that, the six-run lead was insurmountable.
Augusta’s biggest retaliation came in the immediate aftermath, as McMurray scalded a two-out homer the other way to cut the deficit in half. All in all, the Jackets scored five runs in as many innings against starter Daniel Keaney, and yet Keaney still earned his second win in his last four games.
The GreenJackets made the game interesting in the bottom of the ninth, after a power surge led to a delay in the top of the inning. Augusta loaded the bases on walks, before a two-run single from Alex Lodise put the tying run in scoring position and winning run at first. Cody Miller had a chance to be a hero, but was punched out by Geury Rodriguez to prohibit the win streak from extending to five.
After a lengthy, chaotic ballgame, Augusta is back in action tomorrow looking for a series win. Davis Polo, the team leader in strikeouts, looks to keep rolling in front of a packed house on Military Appreciation Night. A return to winning ways will not be easy, however, as Aidan Deakins puts his perfect 5-0 record to the test for the Crawdads.
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