Suns win fourth straight

May 11, 2005

HICKORY, N.C. - The Hagerstown Suns ran out of spare innings to use.

After playing extra innings in four of the previous five games, the Suns scored early and turned the game over to the pitching staff Tuesday to scratch out a 3-2 victory over the Hickory Crawdads.

Blake Eager (3-0) got a 3-0 lead in the second inning and held Hickory on two runs and two hits with the help of Mike Devaney and Carlos Muniz. Eager went six innings while Muniz piched the ninth for his eighth save.

Hagerstown (22-10) won its fourth straight game to maintain first place in the South Atlantic League North Division. The Suns lead Lexington by 1 1/2 games.

The Suns wasted little time against Mark Michael as Wilson Batista led off with a triple to right and scored on Armand Gaerlan's sacrifice fly. Gaerlan was playing third base in place of Grant Psomas, who sat for the first time after starting the first 31 games of the season.

Hagerstown added two runs in the second, highlighted by Derran Watts' second home run of the season.

Hickory threatened to tie the game with two outs in the eighth inning, but Dante Brinkley made a diving catch in left field to end the threat and preserve the victory.

Brinkley, who leads the SAL in hitting, had two of the Suns' 11 hits. Brinkley has reached base in all 30 games he has played this season.

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