The Lynchburg Hillcats trailed 7-2 after the third inning but came back to win 10-9 tonight against the Dash at BB&T Ballpark. David Rohm went 3-fo-6 for Lynchburg, falling just a home run shy of the cycle and drove in four runs. The Hillcats’ bullpen combined to throw five innings and surrendered just one run to pave the way for a Hillcats comeback victory.
The Dash jumped out to the early lead in the first inning. A.J. Holland gave up four hits including a two-run homer to Courtney Hawkins. The Dash led 4-0 after the first frame. Kyle Kubitza answered with a two-run shot for Lynchburg in the top of the second inning. Winston-Salem kept their foot on the gas early, however. Chris Curley added another long ball scoring two in the second and Grant Buckner doubled home a run in the third. The Dash went up 7-2 after the third.
The fourth inning marked the beginning of the Hillcat comeback. They batted all nine and scored four runs. Rohm doubled in two runs with the bases loaded. William Beckwith then sent a sacrifice fly to center fielder Hawkins to score Matt Lipka. That ended the night for Dash starter Myles Jaye. Jeremy Erben entered with a runner a third and one out. Robby Hefflinger lined out to third before Shawn McGill singled home Rohm. The Hillcats cut their deficit to 7-6.
Then the game started to go back and forth. Lynchburg tied the game at 7-7 with a run in the fifth. Buckner homered off of Wilson Rivera in the bottom of the inning to put the Dash back on top. Then, Will Skinner responded with a solo blast to tie the game at 8-8 in the sixth.
Erben remained in the game, pitching into the seventh, but wouldn’t finish the frame. Lipka singled with one out, and the Rohm tripled to right-center to put the Hillcats on top. Max Peterson then relieved Erben. Matt Weaver hit a sacrifice fly to center field on the first pitch from Peterson. Rohm scored and the Hllcats went ahead 10-8. Peterson then struck out Hefflinger to end the frame.
It remained 10-8 until the ninth. Nate Hyatt entered for the save. A walk, two wild pitches, and a single plated a run. But, with the tying run at first and just one out, Hyat struck out Hawkins and induced a ground ball fielder’s choice out at second base off the bat of Rangel Ravelo to end the game.
Rivera (4-0) earned the win tossing three innings of relief. He gave up one run on one hit and struck out five. Erben (2-1) suffered the loss. He surrendere four runs on seven hits in three innings of relief.
The Hillcats improved to 32-29 on the season and are now 3.5 games out of first place with seven games left. The Dash meanwhile, fell to 34-30 and are now one game out in the Southern Division behind the Myrtle Beach Pelicans.
Game two of the series is set for tomorrow night at 7:00pm. The Hillcats starter is yet to be announced, but they will be going up against RHP Chris Bassitt (5-2, 3.74) for the Dash. The Hillcats On-Deck Show powered by Honda/Suzuki of Lynchburg will go on the air at 6:40pm. Listen live to the call with Erik Wilson on 97.9 FM The Planet and online at lynchburg-hillcats.com
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