FREDERICKSBURG, Va. (Interstat) — Paulino Santana drove in three runs, including a go-ahead double in the eighth inning, as the Hickory Crawdads beat the Fredericksburg Nationals 5-4 on Saturday at Virginia Credit Union Stadium. Moises Morales struck out nine over five innings to earn the win and improve to 4-0. J.D. McReynolds pitched two scoreless innings with five strikeouts for his fourth save.

Hickory took an early lead with single runs in the second, third and fourth innings. Santana doubled in two runs in the second and Deward Tovar grounded in a run in the third. Fredericksburg answered with two runs in the third on Eli Willits’ single, then added a run in the sixth on a sacrifice fly and another in the seventh on Luke Dickerson’s single. Santana’s second double in the eighth scored two more for Hickory, but he was thrown out trying for third.

Jared Beck allowed four hits and two earned runs in three innings to take the loss for Fredericksburg, now 18-8. Hickory improved to 16-10. Attendance was 3,117, and the game lasted 2:47.