Aaron King took the mound for the Augusta (Ga.) GreenJackets knowing Sunday's outing would be special.
One swing of the bat kept it from also being magical.
The former Fred T. Foard High standout provided what he labeled his top performance of the season, but a sparkling effort ended in a no decision when Erik Morrison's ninth-inning home run and Matt West's scamper home on a wild pitch in the 10th allowed the Hickory Crawdads to rally for a 3-2 win at L.P. Frans Stadium.
King kept the Crawdads' bats largely silent over seven innings and appeared headed to a record-leveling victory, surrendering one run on four hits while striking out five and walking none.
Morrison's solo shot, however, evened the score 2-2 and kept King's mark at 4-5. The round-tripper also kept the Crawdads in the mix for a second-half title in the South Atlantic League's Northern Division.
"It was a little disappointing," said King of Morrison's game-tying heroics, "but I pitched my best, I think, all year.
"There were butterflies and goose bumps all over me, and I was a nervous wreck in the first inning. But after that got by, I just threw my game.
"I think I gave the home town a good show."
And it was memories of past performances in his native town that King said spurred his effort against a team he once watched from the stands.
"I've been going back to the way I used to pitch in high school and college, the 20-year-old left-hander said. "I've tried to stop nibbling at the (strike) zone and just get ahead in the count.
"I wanted to cut down on my walks in the second half, and I didn't have any today. I'm just trying to take care of what I need to and throw strikes."
Lost in the shuffle of King's homecoming was a Crawdads (50-48, 17-12 second half) victory that kept them one game behind Kannapolis for the division lead. Also turned in was an equally impressive outing from a quarter of Hickory arms.
Wilmer Font, Corey Ragsdale, Matt Nevarez and Fabio Castillo combined on a six hitter with 10 strikeouts and three walks, and snuffed out numerous Augusta scoring chances.
"Our pitching is the heart and soul of our team," Crawdads manager Hector Ortiz said. "Any time they pitch well, they keep us in the game and today they executed when they needed to."
The GreenJackets (52-47, 17-13) finished 1-for-10 with runners in scoring position but grabbed a 1-0 lead in the third on Wendell Fairley's run-scoring double.
Hickory then got to King in the seventh when Jared Bolden's two-out double to right field was followed by Cristian Santana's double in the left-centerfield gap, tying the score 1-1.
Augusta answered in the eighth and gave a King a chance for the victory when Juan Perez's sacrifice fly plated Vladimir Frias, putting the GreenJackets back in front 2-1. But Morrison's one-out blast over the left field wall off reliever Edwin Quirarte (3-1) knotted the score again, setting the stage for the Crawdads' fourth extra-inning win this year.
After West reached on a fielder's choice, he advanced to second on Miguel Alfonzo's single to left. Mike Hollander's bouncer to short forced Alfonzo at second but moved West to third.
West then raced home with the clinching run when Quirarte's pitch in the dirt skidded by catcher Matt Klimas.
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