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GREENSBORO — The Grasshoppers looked like a dead carcass with vultures circling at several points during the second game of Monday's doubleheader against the Hickory Crawdads.

But that's why you play all nine ... er, make that seven innings.

The Hoppers made a dramatic three-run comeback in the bottom of the seventh, and Jeremy Synan's walkoff homer gave them quite the explosive ending to 14 innings of baseball (two seven inning games) at NewBridge Bank Park as they earned a split.

"After Kevin hit his home run, and everyone's jacked up ready to go for somebody else's home run," Synan said. "You've gotta swing for it. You've gotta go for it."

Down 7-5 entering the last half inning, Kernersville native Kevin Mattison blasted a two-run homer to left-center with one out to tie things.

"He gave me a fastball up and away, and it's usually a pitch I don't hit well, but I connected with it," Mattison said. "So I was pretty pumped."

And with two gone, Synan (from Browns Summit) sent everyone home happy with a shot to right that earned him some good-natured pounding from his teammates at home plate.

The first game was mild in comparison.

The Hoppers got a solid performance from Johnny Dorn (three earned runs while going all seven innings), but they couldn't put enough runs up on the scoreboard to keep him from taking the hard-luck loss. Greensboro scored one in each of the first two innings, including a deep homer to right-center by catcher Torre Langley, but that was it for the rest of the game as the Crawdads won 3-2.

The second game was nothing short of a Jekyll & Hyde affair for the Grasshoppers — both in the field and at the plate.

With a 1-0 lead entering the third, both starting pitcher Bryan Evans and third baseman Brandon Turner fielded bunts only to fling them by first base and down the line into the Hickory bullpen area. Three runners scored while the Hoppers tracked down those miscues, and Evans left with no outs in the inning and a 5-1 deficit.

At the plate, the Hoppers looked promising early with a run in the first on two hits, but went 1-2-3 the next three innings.

Then, poof.

Suddenly the hapless Hoppers rallied for four runs in the fifth on four hits to tie the game. Defense? How 'bout two sparkling plays from right fielder Justin Bass and second baseman Daniel Pertusati in the top of the sixth?

But that magic was mysteriously gone in the seventh. Hickory's leadoff hitter reached with a hot-shot single that third baseman Brandon Turner could only slow down as it got between his legs. After a sacrifice bunt, first baseman Ben Lasater got a piece of a single to the right side that deflected into the outfield and allowed the go-ahead run to score. After the second out, Bass couldn't get to a fly ball down the right field line for another run as the game appeared to slip away.

"We struggled picking up the ball today, and playing catch," manager Darin Everson said.

But those rocky times on defense were quickly erased by the dynamic Hopper bats as they saved Greensboro from going 0-2 for the night. The win also kept them from dropping below .500 for the first time since April 17.

And while such a comeback seems less than ordinary, Everson has seen it before with this team dating back to last year in the New York Penn League.

"It's something that this group has done in the past," he said.

Contact Jesse Baumgartner at 373-7071 or jesse.baumgartner@news-record.com