COLUMBIA (Interstat) — The Hickory Crawdads erupted for four runs in the seventh inning, powered by three home runs, to beat the Columbia Fireflies 7-2 on Thursday night at Spirit Communications Park.

Aidan Deakins pitched six innings of two-run ball to improve to 3-0, and the Crawdads snapped a two-game losing streak against the Fireflies. Hickory improved to 18-16, while Columbia fell to 17-19 in front of an announced crowd of 2,768. The game lasted 2 hours, 24 minutes.

Columbia struck first in the second inning. Roni Cabrera crushed a solo home run to left field, his third of the season, giving the Fireflies a 1-0 lead. Hickory answered in the third. Angel Arredondo reached on a fielding error by center fielder Sean Gamble and scored on a sharp line-drive single by Wady Mendez. Later in the inning, Yolfran Castillo singled and scored on a single by Deward Tovar, putting Hickory ahead 2-1.

The Crawdads added a run in the sixth. Tovar singled, advanced on a single by Paulino Santana and scored when Gamble committed a throwing error on the same play, making it 3-1. Columbia cut the lead to 3-2 in the bottom half. Josh Hammond singled, moved to second on a throwing error by right fielder Wady Mendez and scored on a triple by Hyungchan Um.

The decisive seventh inning began with Arredondo leading off by homering to left center, his first of the year. After a groundout, Hector Osorio hit his seventh home run, a solo shot to right. Castillo followed with his first home run, a solo blast to left, making it 6-2. Tovar was then hit by a pitch and scored when shortstop Josh Hammond committed a fielding error on a Josh Springer grounder, capping the inning at 7-2.

Deakins allowed two runs on seven hits, walked none and struck out seven. Luimy Munoz, Louis Marinaro and Dash Albus finished the game for Hickory. Jose Gutierrez took the loss, falling to 1-2. He gave up four runs on seven hits over 5 1/3 innings, walking one and striking out six. Andy Basora and Yolfran Castillo also pitched in relief for Columbia.

Columbia outhit Hickory 12-9 but left nine runners on base. The Fireflies had a chance to rally in the seventh, loading the bases with one out on singles by Jhosmmel Zue, Connor Rasmussen and Henry Ramos, but Yandel Ricardo struck out to end the threat. Hickory turned a double play in the fifth to snuff out another Columbia scoring chance.

The Crawdads have now won four of their last six games and will continue a six-game road series against Columbia with games Friday through Sunday. Columbia has lost two straight after dropping the opener of this series.

Interstat’s game simulator had projected a final score of Columbia 4, Hickory 1, and its ELO system gave Columbia a 52.60 percent probability to win.