Hickory Claims Series from Wilson with Eighth Inning Homer
Published on July 18, 2026 under Carolina League (CarL)
Wilson Warbirds News Release
HICKORY, NC - For the second consecutive night, the Hickory Crawdads struck in the bottom of the eighth inning to break open a tie game and on Saturday, defeated the Wilson Warbirds 5-4 at LP Frans Stadium.
With the game tied at four in the last of the eighth inning, Hickory (17-6 second half, 51-36 overall) broke the deadlock when Pablo Guerrero connected on his first home run of the season to give the Crawdads a 5-4 lead.
Down by a run in the ninth inning, Wilson (11-11 second half, 47-41 overall) put the tying run on base when Louis Marinaro (W, 4-2) issued a walk to Handelfry Encarnacion but Brady Ebel struck out and Encarnacion was thrown out attempting to steal second base to end the game and preserve a 5-4 win for the Crawdads.
Joey Broughton (L, 0-1) was tagged with the loss after giving up the home run in the bottom of the eighth inning.
Hickory opened the scoring in the third inning when Luis Lameda misplayed a pickoff attempt which allowed Deward Tovar to race home with the first run of the game.
Trailing by a run in the top of the fifth, Wilson took their first lead of the game when Alexander Frias connected on his first grand slam as a Warbird and his third home run to give Wilson a 4-1 advantage.
The lead would be short lived as the Crawdads quickly answered in the bottom of the fifth on a two-run single from Paulino Santana to make it a 4-3 Wilson lead.
Still trailing by a run in the sixth, Hickory leveled the score at four thanks to a Sebastian Baquera sacrifice fly.
With the loss, Wilson has its streak of 11 consecutive series without a loss snapped, marking the first series loss for the Warbirds since late April
The series concludes Sunday afternoon at 2:00 when Wilson sends righty Diustin Mayorquin (0-0, 0.00) to the hill while Hickory counters with right-hander Daniel Keaney (2-1, 4.26).
#TakeFlight#
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