The Hickory Crawdads defeated the Rome Braves 7-2 Wednesday night on the road.

Hickory spotted the Braves two runs in the bottom of the second inning, but from that point on, it was all Crawdads. Hickory scored for the first time in the contest in the fourth inning. With one out, Cody Freeman singled and then stole second base. Abimelec Ortiz then hit a home run, scoring Freeman.

The Crawdads added two more runs in the top of the fifth inning. With two outs, Jayce Easley hit a solo home run to right field. Keyber Rodriguez then doubled and Max Acosta would single him home.

In the eighth inning, Freeman doubled with two outs. And then, as what happened in the fourth inning, Ortiz hit his second home run of the game, and his team leading 15th of the season.

In the ninth inning, Yosy Galan singled to open the inning. Frainyer Chavez walked. Two batters later, Rodriguez singled allowing Galan to score for the final 7-2 score.

Winston Santos pitched five innings, allowing six hits and two runs while striking out two and walking none in picking up his sixth win of the season on the mound. Nick Lockhart pitched 2.2 innings, giving up two hits but no runs. Jackson Kelley picked up the save with 1.1 innings pitched allowing only one hit.

Hickory is 15-4 on the second half of the season and 42-38 overall. The Crawdads stay in Rome through Sunday.