KANNAPOLIS, N.C. (Interstat) — The Hickory Crawdads held off a late rally to defeat the Kannapolis Cannon Ballers 6-5 at Atrium Health Ballpark on Saturday.

Hickory built a 6-2 lead with a three-run fourth inning and two more in the fifth, highlighted by Wady Mendez’s RBI double. Kannapolis answered with three runs in the bottom of the fifth, keyed by Abraham Nunez’s two-run single in the first and Rylan Galvan’s RBI single, but could not complete the comeback.

Winning pitcher Geury Rodriguez tossed two scoreless innings of relief for Hickory. Louis Marinaro earned the save with four strikeouts over 1 2/3 hitless innings. Anthony Patterson III took the loss for Kannapolis.

Both teams had eight hits. The game took 3 hours, 5 minutes before a crowd of 3,289. Hickory improved to 6-2, while Kannapolis fell to 2-6. The teams conclude their series Sunday.