AUGUSTA, GA: Solo home runs from Nick Montgomery and Owen Carey gave the GreenJackets their second multi-homer game of the season, but that was all the offense Augusta could muster as they fell 3-2 to the Crawdads Thursday evening.
The GreenJackets were forced to play from behind almost immediately, as Hickory scored in the top of the first inning for the second time in three days.
Chandler Pollard began the night with a walk against Jeremy Reyes in the latter’s first game off the Injured List, and promptly stole second.
Pollard advanced to third on a ground ball from Maxton Martin, and scored on a two-out passed ball charged to Montgomery for an early lead.
In an all-too-familiar occurrence, the GreenJacket offense offered little resistance against the opposing starter, as Caden Scarborough did not allow a hit in his first three innings at SRP Park.
Scarborough’s only blemish in the first three was a two-out walk to Mac Guscette, who was immediately stranded at first.
While Scarborough carved through the GreenJackets, the Crawdads pieced together two more runs to begin pulling away. Hickory doubled their lead in the 3rd as Pablo Guerrero cracked a two-out RBI single that scored Pollard for the 2nd time.
After Reyes was replaced by Logan Samuels in the 4th, the Crawdads rudely greeted the reliever with three hits in the frame that led to another run.
The Jackets broke the shutout and no-hit bid simultaneously, as Nick Montgomery mauled a hanging slider off the apartment building behind left field for his third homer of the year.
It would be the only hit Scarborough ceded in the game, as he was pulled after the 4th.
Both bullpens were stellar down the stretch, as Samuels, David Rodriguez, and Justin Long did not allow another run in the final five innings.
Hickory turned to Dalton Pence, and the lefty retired his first five hitters before Owen Carey crushed a fastball over the TaxSlayer Terrace in right for his second homer of the year.
Augusta had gotten themselves within one, but could not find the tying run down the stretch. Kai Wynyard went six up-six down through the 7th and 8th before the Jackets put pressure on in the final inning.
Carey led off with a single, and Eric Hartman walked to put both the tying and winning runs on. Wynyard calmed himself, and carved through Montgomery, Isaiah Drake and Guscette to strand the tying run in scoring position.
The GreenJackets fall to .500 on the year once again, a perfectly balanced 15-15 through 30 games. Hickory moves within a game of Augusta, and will look to secure a series split May 9 behind Mason Molina, the only lefty to start for either team this week.
