SALEM, Va. (Interstat) — The Salem RidgeYaks defeated the Hickory Crawdads 3-1 on Tuesday night at Carilion Clinic Field, snapping a two-game skid and improving to 21-25.

Salem jumped ahead in the first inning when Skylar King reached on an error, allowing Andrews Opata to score. Hickory tied it in the second on Deward Tovar’s RBI single, but the RidgeYaks regained control in the fifth on Stanley Tucker’s two-run homer, his fourth of the season.

Barrett Morgan (3-1) earned the win, allowing one run on four hits over his outing. Wuilliams Rodriguez recorded his first save. Hickory’s Alejandro Chiquillo (0-1) took the loss, surrendering three runs – two earned – on three hits.

Salem outhit Hickory 3-4. Givian Sirvania, D’Angelo Ortiz, Frederik Jimenez and others contributed defensively, with the RidgeYaks committing no errors. The Crawdads fell to 25-19.

Attendance was 890, and the game lasted 2 hours, 7 minutes. The teams meet again Wednesday in the second game of the series.