HICKORY, N.C. (Interstat) — Aidan Deakins threw six strong innings and Wily Villar earned a three-inning save Thursday afternoon as the Hickory Crawdads defeated the Charleston RiverDogs 5-2 at L.P. Frans Stadium.

Deakins (4-0) allowed six hits and two earned runs while striking out four. Villar struck out four over three hitless innings for his second save.

Hickory struck first with two runs in the first inning on Josh Springer’s RBI single. The Crawdads added a run in the third when Springer was hit by a pitch with the bases loaded, then made it 4-1 in the fourth on Yolfran Castillo’s RBI single. Luis Marquez drove in an insurance run in the eighth.

Charleston got on the board in the second on an Alberth Palma groundout and cut the lead to 4-2 in the sixth on Taitn Gray’s solo home run. The RiverDogs (23-19) managed six hits but grounded into two double plays. Alex Wallace (0-2) took the loss, allowing four earned runs in 5 2/3 innings.

Paulino Santana homered for Hickory (22-18), which had seven hits and also grounded into two double plays. The game lasted 2:01 before a crowd of 19.