UVa. rallies in 11th to nip W&M
Freshman Mike Papi (Tunkhannock, Pa.) hit a two-run walk-off single in the 11th inning to propel the Virginia baseball team to a 6-5 victory over William and Mary Tuesday in front of 2,598 fans at Davenport Field. UVa (2-1-1) also rallied from a 4-0 deficit in the eighth inning to send the game to extra innings.
William & Mary (2-2) scored a run on a UVa error in the top of the 11th, but Virginia came back in the bottom of the inning. Chris Taylor (Jr., Virginia Beach, Va.) hit a leadoff single and Mitchell Shifflett (So., Midlothian, Va.) walked. Stephen Bruno (Jr., Audubon, N.J.) laid down a sacrifice bunt to move both runners in scoring position, and Papi ripped the 3-2 pitch over the drawn-in infield into right field, with Shifflett touching home plate with his left hand just before the tag of catcher Chris Forsten. Continue reading “UVa. rallies in 11th to nip W&M” »
Salem finishes season on streak
Peter Hissey’s first professional grand slam and Matt Spring’s three-run blast highlighted a seven-run fourth inning that propelled the Salem Sox to a 10-3 victory over Myrtle Beach on the final day of the 2011 regular season. Stolmy Pimentel earned his sixth victory, holding Myrtle Beach to two runs on two hits in seven strong innings. Salem finished with a record of 64-75, 33-37 in the second half, and won four in a row and five of the last six to complete the slate.
Salem opened up a 3-0 lead in the top of the second on Monday night, utilizing two singles and three walks to score three times. Josue Peley drilled the first of his two hits to drive in the first run, and the Sox scored twice more on a wild pitch and a fielder’s choice with the bases loaded.
Two innings later, the Red Sox loaded the bases again via Peley’s double, Zach Gentile’s strikeout wild pitch, and Drew Dominguez’ hit-by-pitch. With one out, Hissey lifted a deep fly down the left-field line that snuck over the fence and inside the foul pole for a grand slam. The four-run shot was Hissey’s second homer of the season, both of which came against the Pelicans. In fact, all three of Hissey’s professional home runs have been belted against Myrtle Beach.
The slam made it 7-0, but the Sox were not done in the fourth. Heiker Meneses reached on Leury Garcia’s fielding error, Bryce Brentz singled Meneses to third, and then Matt Spring clobbered his second homer in as many days to shoot Salem to a 10-0 edge. Spring’s seventh Carolina League dinger gave the Sox a comfortable cushion for the pitcher’s to embrace.
Pimentel peppered the strike zone, surrendering back-to-back hits in the fourth inning but none others. Garcia doubled to lead off the fourth and Jared Prince smothered a two-run homer to make it 10-2, but Pimentel set down 11 of the next 13, hitting two batters who never passed first base. The Dominican righthander improved to 6-4 and lowered his Carolina League ERA to 4.53.
In relief, Manny Rivera permitted one run on two innings, striking out a pair in his perfect ninth to end the season. Myrtle Beach used seven different pitchers in their final game before the postseason, with Kasey Kiker suffering the loss, allowing three runs in a third of a frame on the mound.
Every member of Salem’s lineup reached base and scored a run, with Spring and Peley registering multi-hit evenings to complete the campaign. The two home runs gave Salem 93 round-trippers for the season, the most for any Salem Sox squad since the Red Sox returned to the Roanoke Valley in 2009.
Sox rock Dash
The Salem Sox followed their two-day hiatus by erupting for a season-high 19 hits in a 16-10 victory over Winston-Salem on Wednesday evening to begin the final road trip of 2011 with a bang. At one point, the Red Sox rolled off 14 consecutive runs, erasing a 7-1 second-inning deficit with a five-run third, a three-run fifth, and a four-run sixth. Salem added two more runs in the seventh and one more in the eighth to match their season high in runs scored. Four different Red Sox registered three-hit nights, led by the #9 hitter Zach Gentile, who went 3-4 with a season-high five RBI from the bottom of the lineup. Matt Spring, just back with Salem after spending time with Triple-A Pawtucket, delivered two doubles and a solo homer, driving in three runs in the ballgame.
A 1-1 draw after one inning was abruptly broken by Winston’s six-run bottom of the second. Both Mike Blanke and Ian Gac belted homers against Salem starter Stolmy Pimentel, and the Dash appeared en route to the rout. But Pimentel settled down and retired 11 of the next 12 he faced to give the Sox sticks a chance to respond. His shutdown performance in the middle innings was the unsung hero for Salem’s offensive onslaught.
In the top of the third, six of the first seven batters mustered base hits against Winston starter Jake Petricka, who was chased from the contest with two outs in the third. Four different Red Sox drove in runs in the five-run frame that inched Salem back within a run at 7-6.
With the bases loaded in the top of the fifth, Gentile slammed a hard ground ball inside the first base bag and into the left field corner, clearing the bases to surge Salem into the lead at 9-7. In the sixth, Spring and Miles Head each launched solo homers off Dash reliever Santos Rodriguez to make it 11-7. Later in the inning, two walks and a hit-batter loaded the bases, and Heiker Meneses singled home two more to give Salem a 13-7 edge. Peter Hissey contributed an RBI single in the eighth, and Gentile drove in his fifth run two batters later, surging Salem to its largest lead of 15-7.
Blanke belted his second homer of the night for the Dash in the ninth, a two-run bomb off reliever Manny Rivera, but Salem’s 16-10 advantage stood when the final out was recorded two batters later. Rivera dealt the final three and a third innings to earn his second save, while Pimentel picked up the victory, improving to 5-4 with five and two-thirds innings, allowing seven runs on ten hits.
Offensively, Gentile, Spring, Padron, and Head each connected for three hits, while Meneses, Hissey and Bryce Brentz added two apiece. Salem finished 9-for-20 with runners in scoring position, while Winston went 3-for-11.
Salem hopes to build upon their scintillating offensive performance as the series continues on Thursday night. Ryan Pressly will square off again Ryan Buch, with the first pitch slated for 7 PM.
Hillcats lose tempers, game
A collision at the plate and a retaliation hit-by-pitch caused the benches to clear in the fifth inning of a two-run ballgame Tuesday night. Three Hillcats were ejected after the altercation. Lynchburg came back to tie the game but fell 5-4 to the Potomac Nationals in 10 innings.
Each team scored in the first inning. Destin Hood hit a two-out solo home run in the top of the inning to give the Nationals the lead. The Hillcats responded by manufacturing a run. Todd Cunningham walked to lead off the inning. Lynchburg executed a perfect hit-and-run, with Andrelton Simmons singling out to right, sending Cunningham to third. Christian Bethancourt followed with a sacrifice fly to tie the game at one.
The Hillcats took advantage of a Potomac error in the third to take the lead. With Cunningham on second and one out, Bethancourt hit a grounder back to the pitcher, Evan Bronson. Bronson made a low throw to first, that rolled all the way to the Potomac bullpen. Cunningham came in to score and the Hillcats took a 2-1 lead.
The Nationals tied the game on in the fourth inning. With Zach Walters on first and Steven Souza on third, Chris Masters threw a pitch that hit the dirt. The ball skipped slightly away from Bethancourt, and Walters started to head towards second. Bethancourt quickly got to the ball and threw down to second, Walters stopped and Souza took off from third. The throw came back to the plate, and when Souza got there, he leveled Bethancourt, knocking him off his feet and knocking the ball out of his glove. Souza scored and Bethancourt, who didn’t move for nearly a minute, had to leave the game.
The game got wild in the fifth inning. The Nationals scored two runs to take a 4-2 lead, but the story was the action in between plays. Early in the inning, catcher Shawn McGill, who entered the game for Bethancourt, was hit in the head on an accidental backswing by hitter Francisco Soriano. McGill had to leave the game and the third catcher of game, Ryan Query had to come in.
Souza came to the plate with a runner on after the two runs came in. Masters threw a fastball that hit him, and Souza took a step towards Masters and said something. Masters started yelling back, walking off the mound towards the plate, and the benches and bullpens cleared. No punches were thrown, but several players had to be physically restrained. When players were finally separated, both Masters and Hillcats reliever Eliecer Cardenas were ejected from the game, and no Nationals players were ejected. After a long delay where all three Lynchburg coaches were arguing, reliever Ryan Buchter sprinted down from the bullpen and got in the face of home plate umpire John Bacon, and was ejected as well.
Despite the altercation, there was still a game to be played, and the Hillcats cut into the lead in the bottom of the fifth. Andrelton Simmons doubled, and then stole third. Query, making his first at-bat of the game, hit a sacrifice fly to center to cut the lead to 4-3.
Query again came through in the bottom of the seventh. He singled home Marcus Lemon to tie the game at four.
Both teams squandered chances until the top of the tenth, when Zach Walters singled home Brian Peacock, giving the Nationals a 5-4 lead. Hector Nelo came in to hold the Hillcats scoreless in the tenth, picking up his 18th save of the season and preserving the win for the Nationals.
Joe Testa (6-2) earned the win in relief for Potomac and Andrew Wilson (2-4) took the loss for Lynchburg.
The Hillcats fell to 28-34 in the second half. Potomac improved to 35-28 and their magic number to clinch a playoff birth dropped to one.
The series between these two teams continues Wednesday night. David Hale (3-6) will pitch for the Hillcats and Paul Demny (9-10) will pitch for the Nationals. First pitch is at 7:05 pm and the gates will open at 6.
The Hillcats On-Deck Show presented by Honda/Suzuki of Lynchburg will go on the air at 6:40 pm. Tune in to 105.5 KD Country or go to lynchburg-hillcats.com to listen live to all the action.
Back-to-back jacks win it for ‘Cats
In a pitchers duel, sometimes it comes down to a couple of hits in the game. For the Hillcats, the couple of hits came in the seventh inning, as Barrett Kleinknecht and Geraldo Rodriguez hit back-to-back home runs to lead Lynchburg to a 3-2 win over the Kinston Indians Sunday night.
The Hillcats took the lead in the bottom of the second. Barrett Kleinknecht led off the inning with a double. Two batters later, Marcus Lemon laced a double down the left field line, scoring Kleinknecht and giving the Hillcats an early 1-0 lead.
The Indians only managed two hits against against Hillcats starter Gary Moran, but made them count, with both coming in the top of the third. Delvi Cid started it off with a bouncer to the hole between short and third. Andrelton Simmons was able to field it deep in the hole, but had no play to first, so Cid reached with an infield single. He stole second, and Tyler Holt dropped a bunt down the third base line. He just beat the throw to first from Joe Leonard, and with two infield hits, runners were at the corners with no outs. Jordan Casas grounded into a 4-6-3 double play, but Cid scored to tie the game at one.
Jeremy Haynes entered the game in the seventh inning and ran into some trouble, he gave up a hit and walked two batters before a sacrifice fly before Doug Pickens hit a sacrifice fly to center to break the tie and put Kinston ahead 2-1. Haynes (2-1) was able to get out of the inning without any more damage.
Kinston went to the bullpen as well in the seventh inning. After Francisco Jimenez allowed just four hits, he left and Kyle Landis (8-2) entered the game. The leadoff batter, Kleinknecht, hit a shot to left that cleared the wall for his second home run in as many nights. Right after him, Geraldo Rodriguez hit a line drive that just hooked inside the foul pole for back-to-back home runs and gave the Hillcats the 3-2 lead.
Andrew Wilson worked a perfect eighth in his return to Lynchburg and Eliecer Cardenas pitched a perfect ninth to earn his seventh save of the year.
The Hillcats improved to 28-33. The Indians fell to 32-29.
Lynchburg continues their season-ending homestand on Tuesday as the Potomac Nationals come into town for a four-game series. Chris Masters (9-5) will take the mound for the Hillcats and face Evan Bronson (5-4) for the Nationals. First pitch is at 7:05 pm and gates will open at 6.
The Hillcats On-Deck Show presented by Honda/Suzuki of Lynchburg will go on the air at 6:40 pm. Tune in to 105.5 KD Country or go to lynchburg-hillcats.com to listen live to all the action.
‘Cats unable to weather storm
After Hurricane Irenetore through North Carolina, the series between Indians and Hillcatswas moved to Lynchburg. In the first game on Sunday night Kinston won 9-2 over Lynchburg.
Hillcats pitcher Caleb Brewer had a rough start to the game. He walked the first three batters he faced, then gave up a grand slam to Jeremie Tice. He walked two more batters in the inning, but was able to get out of the inning with Kinston leading 4-0.
Barrett Kleinknecht stepped up to the plate with two outs in the bottom of the second. He swung on the first pitch he saw, launching it over the left field wall for a solo home run to cut the lead to 4-1.
Over the next three innings, the Indians score four unanswered, all off of singles. One run scored in each of the third and fourth, and then Adam Abraham hit a two-run single in the fifth to put the Indians up 8-1.
The Hillcats got one back in the bottom of the eighth. With Todd Cunningham on first base, Christian Bethancourt doubled to center, scoring Cunningham and making the score 8-2.
Kinston scored one more in the ninth, to give the Indians a 9-2 victory over Lynchburg.
Brewer (1-1) took the loss, only pitching two and two-thirds innings and giving up five runs. The winning pitcher was Clayton Cook (8-8).
The Hillcats fell to 27-33 in the second half. The Indians improved to 32-28.
The final game this season between the Hillcats and Indians will be played Monday at 5:00 pm at CityStadium. Gary Moran (1-1) will pitch for the Hillcats and Francisco Jimenez (3-3) will take the mound for the Indians. Gates will open at 4 pm and admission will be free for all fans.
The Hillcats On-Deck Show presented byHonda/Suzuki of Lynchburg will go on the air at 4:40 pm. Tune in to105.5 KD Country or go to lynchburg-hillcats.comto listen live to all the action.
Salem drops home finale
A manufactured run in the top of the ninth inning fractured a 4-4 tie, surging the Blue Rocks into a lead that they would not relinquish in the final game of the season at LewisGale Field. Wilmington’s 5-4 victory was a byproduct of opportunistic baserunning and opposition miscues, as the Sox made three errors, including one pivotal one in the decisive ninth. Whit Merrifield drew a one-out walk from Jeremiah Bayer and advanced to second after an errant pick-off attempt skipped past first. Two wild pitches later, Merrifield touched home plate to put the Blue Rocks on top.
With the score even at two through six innings, both teams plated a pair in a wild and scary seventh, in which Salem right fielder Bryce Brentz was carted off the field after backing into the wall in pursuit of a fly ball. With Merrifield at first, Carlo Testa’s deep drive to right pushed Brentz to the track. The ball bounced off Brentz’ glove and rolled into the right-field corner, while Brentz drilled the wall, fell down, and laid motionless on the ground. Both Merrifield and Testa rounded the bases, providing Testa with an inside-the-park two-run homer. Meanwhile, Brentz remained on the ground as Salem Athletic Trainer Brandon Henry charged onto the field.
Brentz sat up, stood up on his own, and took a few steps to a cart that helped him off the field. Brentz said that he felt a very sharp pain in his back when it happened, but he appeared to be alright after the game, walking around the clubhouse with his teammates.
In the last of the seventh, Salem rallied to even the score, with Heiker Meneses bringing the spark with a one-out single, his third hit of the ballgame. Zach Gentile singled Meneses to third, and the incoming throw bounced away, allowing Meneses to score. Later in the frame, Miles Head smashed a single to center to score Gentile and tie the game at four.
Both teams made three errors, leading to four unearned runs in the ballgame, three of which were scored by Wilmington. All three Salem errors were charged to the pitchers. Starter Anthony Ranaudo made two errors, one fielding and one on an errant pick-off attempt, while Bayer’s miscue in the ninth also cost the Sox dearly.
Salem also lost third-baseman Kolbrin Vitek early in the game. Vitek aggravated an oblique injury and departed in the middle of his second at-bat. Gentile took over for Vitek with a 1-1 count in the third inning, and Gentile flew to left to end that frame.
Ranaudo dealt four innings, allowing two runs (both unearned) on three hits, while striking out six and walking four. He received a no-decision, and it was Bayer who was saddled with the setback, falling to 7-3.
The Salem Sox will take two days off before returning to the diamond on Wednesday in Winston-Salem for the final six-game road trip of the season.
Salem prevails in extras
Jorge Padron delivered a two-out, two-strike game-tying double in the bottom of the ninth, and Shannon Wilkerson’s sacrifice fly to left scored Heiker Meneses two innings later to give the Salem Sox a dramatic come-from-behind 10-9 triumph in 11 innings on Saturday night in front of 4,833 at LewisGale Field. After trailing 5-0 after three and a half, 8-6 after eight and a half, and 9-8 after ten and a half, the Sox scored two in the bottom of the 11th to send the near-capacity crowd home happy.
Scoreless through three innings, the action intensified in the fourth. Ryan Stovall and Carlo Testa each went deep off Drake Britton in a five run-frame, and the Rocks possessed a 5-0 lead. But Salem broke up Elisaul Pimentel’s shutout thanks to Meneses’ leadoff triple and an RBI single from Bryce Brentz in the bottom of the fourth. One inning later, Salem rallied for four runs to tie it up at five. Kolbrin Vitek connected for a clutch two-run single with the bases loaded, and Bryce Brentz’ slow roller to third was chucked down the right-field line, allowing two more runs to score.
In the last of the sixth, Peter Hissey drew a one-out walk, stole second, and trotted home on Josue Peley’s RBI single, surging the Sox to a 6-5 advantage. But the lead would only last until the eighth, when the Blue Rocks rallied for a pair against reliever Jordan Flasher. Travis Jones walked, moved to second on a passed ball, to third on a wild pitch, and scored on Michael Liberto’s clutch single. Two batters later, Liberto crossed on Testa’s RBI knock, boosting the Blue Rocks to a 7-6 edge.
Wilmington added one insurance run in the top of the ninth, with Nick Van Stratten scoring from second on Ryan Stovall’s fly to the warning track in right that dropped out of Brentz’ reach. In the bottom of the ninth, however, the Sox capitalized from the wildness of Blue Rocks reliever Gary Cuevas, utilizing two walks, three wild pitches, and Padron’s clutch double to score twice and send the action to extras.
After a scoreless tenth, the Blue Rocks connected for a pair of doubles from Van Stratten and Stovall to assume a 9-8 lead in the 11th, but the Red Sox rallied for a third time in the last of the frame. Derrik Gibson singled off Bryan Paukovits to start the inning, and Gibson scored all the way from first on Meneses’ sacrifice bunt that was chucked down right field line by Stovall. Meneses scooted all the way to third on the pivotal error, but remained there when Vitek grounded to short. Brentz received an intentional pass, and then Wilkerson, batting for the first time after entering as a pinch-runner in the ninth, lifted a high fly to moderate depth left field. Meneses tagged and sprinted home, beating the incoming throw from Testa, and the Sox stormed the field in celebration. One night after falling by a run with the final out being recorded at the plate, the Sox prevailed in a similar circumstance, with Meneses evading the tag as the ball skipped away from the catcher.
It was the first time all season that Salem won when trailing after eight innings. Previously, the Sox had been 0-62 in such precarious situations.
The Salem Sox wrap up their 2011 home schedule on Sunday afternoon with a 4:05 matinee against the Blue Rocks. Anthony Ranaudo is slated to take the mound for Salem opposite Wilmington’s Tyler Sample.
Jenks scheduled to rehab in Salem Saturday night
Boston’s Bobby Jenks is scheduled to make a rehab appearance for the Salem Red Sox at LewisGale Field on Saturday night. Jenks will likely start and throw one inning in Salem’s contest against the Wilmington Blue Rocks, a Kansas City Royals affiliate.
Jenks, 30, possesses 173 major league saves and a career ERA of 3.53 in seven major league seasons. A member of the Chicago White Sox from 2005-2010, Jenks signed with Boston as a free agent on December 21, 2010. The hard-throwing righthander won a World Series ring with the White Sox in 2005, saving two World Series victories over the Astros. He was named to the American League All-Star team in 2006 and 2007, finishing second in the AL in saves in both of those seasons.
With Boston in 2011, Jenks has gone 2-2 with a 6.32 ERA in 19 appearances. He has been on the disabled list since July 16 with back tightness.
Saturday night will be Jenks’ second appearance in the Carolina League. He made one rehab start for the Winston-Salem Warthogs in 2008, allowing one run on three hits in one inning for the White Sox affiliate on July 14, 2008.
Jenks will be the third major-league rehabber that Salem has had since 2009. Daisuke Matsuzaka and Junichi Tazawa are the other Boston hurlers who have spent some time with the Salem Sox.
Dash demolish SalemSox
The Dash offense erupted for runs in each of the first five innings, bombarding the Sox by two touchdowns in a 14-0 rout on Thursday night at LewisGale Field. Andy Wilkins smashed solo shots in the first and the ninth, while Nick Ciolli also clobbered two homers, a leadoff jack in the second and a two-run bomb in the fifth. Winston scored six times in the third to open an eight-run lead, took a 12-zip lead after five, and put the cherry on top of the blowout sundae with a two-run ninth recorded off Salem second-baseman Zach Gentile, who took the mound for the first time in his professional career to absorb the Dash’s final punches.
Jake Petricka dealt six scoreless innings for Winston, but the onslaught of offense overshadowed the superb pitching performance. The Dash capitalized on a shaky outing from Chris Hernandez, who departed after just two and a third innings in what was by far his shortest and poorest outing of his All-Star season. Out of the bullpen, Pete Ruiz also got drilled for six runs, although only two were charged as earned.
Hernandez retired the first two batters of the game before allowing the first Wilkins round-tripper of the night, a solo shot that gave that Dash a modest 1-0 lead. Following Petricka’s seven-pitch, perfect first, Nick Ciolli smashed an opposite-field jack to make it 2-0 to lead off the second. Winston loaded the bases on two walks and a single, but Hernandez induced a pop-up from Juan Silverio to avoid further damage in the second. It turns out he only delayed the inevitable.
After Wilkins’ screaming line-out to right field to begin the third, seven straight Dash batters reached, with six of them scoring. Four of the runs were charged to Hernandez, who was responsible for six runs (five earned) in his two and a third innings on the mound, while the others were accumulated off Ruiz. The Dash matched a season-high for hits in an inning with six, with Luis Sierra driving in two of his three RBI on the night in the frame.
The Dash added two more on a trio of doubles against Ruiz in the fourth, then received Ciolli’s two-run bomb in the fifth, surging the visitors to a dozen-run advantage. Petricka and Leroy Hunt, who went the final three innings to earn the save, ensured that the football score would stand as a shutout. Salem managed just five hits, with two coming from Jorge Padron.
In the top of the ninth, Gentile made his first appearance in a game since August 5. He walked Silverio on four pitches and fell behind Wilkins 2-0 before he finally threw a strike. Unfortunately, his first pitch in the zone landed approximately 400 foot away after Wilkins launched it deep beyond the right-field fence. After the homer, however, Gentile recorded three consecutive outs, inducing ground-outs from Ian Gac and Ciolli before Kevin Dubler popped to center.
The final homestand of the season continues on Friday with a quasi-doubleheader against Wilmington. The Red Sox and Blue Rocks will resume the suspended game from July 8, with the Rocks leading 2-0 in the second inning. Thirty minutes after its conclusion, another seven-inning tilt will commence.
Walkoff walk dooms ‘Cats
It took a season-long for the Hillcats 12 innings but theirgame against the Pelicans finally ended on a walk-off walk, Myrtle Beachwinning 3-2. Joey Terdoslavich went 4-for-6 in the ball game, crushing his 50th double of the season in the third inning. He is now just one double away fromtying the all-time Carolina League single season record.
Lynchburg led early scoring two runs in the second. JoeLeonard reached on an error. Shawn McGill then drew a walk. With runners atfirst and second Marcus Lemon put down a sacrifice bunt to third base. JimmySwift fielded and threw the ball away at first, Leonard scored, McGill went tothird, and Lemon advanced to second. Barrett Kleinknecht drove in McGill with asacrifice fly to left field. The Hillcats without the benefit of a hit in theframe scored a pair and led 2-0.
Despite tallying 12 hits in the other 11 innings, the ‘Catswould not score the rest of the game. Even with three hits coming in the 10thinning alone, the Hillcats stranded the bases loaded and failed to score.
Meanwhile the Pelicans’ offense consisted of one man. MikeOlt went deep twice in the ball game. He hit a solo shot in the fourth inningand another in the seventh inning. Both came off starter David Hale.
Hale went eight innings, gave up just two runs on six hits,while striking out five but took a no-decision as the game went to extras tied2-2.
The 10th and 11th innings wentscoreless, as did the Lynchburg half of the 12th.
RHP Mark Lamm came back out to pitch the bottom of the 12thfor the Hillcats, looking to complete his fourth inning of relief. He struckout the first two batters but Santiago would not let Myrtle go quietly into the13th. He doubled with two outs, and that was the beginning of theend. Lamm then intentionally walked Travis Adair a left-handed batter to get tothe right-handed Jared Prince. Prince also drew a walk of the unintentionalvariety. That loaded the bases and Lamm left the game.
LHP Matt Crim entered to face left-handed batter AndrewClark. Clark worked the count full before taking a fastball in the dirt for ballfour and the Pelicans won 3-2. Lynchburg fell in the finale but took the series2-1.
Joseph Ortiz (5-5) earned the win with three scorelessinnings of relief. Lamm (1-2) suffered the loss for Lycnhburg.
The Hilcats are now 27-32 in the second half, still fivegames back of the Potomac Nationals for a playoff spot with just 10 games left.
Lynchburg travels to Kinston next to take on the Indians ina three-game set. Game one is scheduled for 6:30 pm Friday night. RHP CalebBrewer (1-0) will start for the Hillcats against RHP Clayton Cook (8-8) forKinston.
Lynchburg wins in extras
The Hillcats never led until the final inning Tuesday night.Tied 4-4 heading into the 11th, Lynchburg doubled their total withfour more runs. Joe Leonard delivered the go-ahead blow with a two-runground-rule double. The Hillcats went on to win 8-4.
The Pelicans started the scoring in the bottom of the first.Ryan Strausborger doubled to lead off the inning. Two batters later, JaredPrince drove him home with a sacrifice fly to center field. Myrtle Beach led1-0.
Lynchburg tied the game with three straight two-out singlesin the top of the second frame. Shawn McGill eventually scored on a GeraldoRodriguez single. The tie would be short lived as the Pelicans retook the leadin the bottom of the inning. Santiago Chirino singled home Jared Hoying puttingMyrtle Beach back up by one, 2-1.
Two more runs scored for the home team. One in the fourth ona Travis Adair RBI single, and another in the fifth when Vinny DiFazio hit asacrifice fly to center field.
The ‘Cats battled back with two runs in the sixth inning.McGill started the inning with a single. After Lemon walked, Rodriguez camethrough again with his second RBI single of the night. Two batters later,Keenan Wiley brought home Lemon with his second base hit of the night. TheHillcats still trailed 4-3.
That score held until the ninth inning. Andrelton Simmonsled off the inning with a single up the middle. He advanced to second base on awild pitch out. Todd Cunninghamthen grounded out to shortstop, moving Simmons to third. Joe Leonard hit asacrifice fly to center field and the game was tied 4-4.
Lynchburg nearly gave away the game in the bottom of theninth. RHP Jeremy Haynes retired the first batter but then walked the next two.LHP Ryan Buchter then came in form the bullpen. He struck out his first batterbefore walking Andrew Clark to load the bases with two outs. Mike Olt came upnext. He worked the count two and two before hitting a line shot to the rightside. Rodriguez dove to his right at first base to make the catch and save thegame for the Hillcats.
The game headed to extras tied 4-4. It stayed that way untilthe 11th inning.
RHP Ryan Rodebaugh entered the game for the Pelicans.Barrett Kleinknecht shot his first hit of the night into center field. Wileyfollowed with a walk, while trying to put down a sacrifice bunt. An errantpick-off attempt to second base went into center field while Simmons was at theplate and both runners advanced. Simmons then popped up to first base.Cunningham was then intentionally walked to load the bases for Leonard. Leonard’sground-rule double brought home two. Christian Bethancourt singled in a pairafter that. The Hillcats went up 8-4.
Buchter (2-5) held the Pelicans scoreless in the 11thand earned his second win of the season. Rodebaugh (1-1) took the loss.
The Hillcats improved to 26-31 with the win, while thePelicans fell to 27-30 with the loss.
The two teams meet again tomorrow night at 7:05 pm. LHPChrist Masters (9-6) will start for Lynchburg against RHP Kennil Gomez (4-2)for Myrtle Beach. Listen live to all the action starting with the HillcatsOn-Deck Show powered by Honda/Suzuki of Lynchburg on 105.5 KD Country andonline at lynchburg-hillcats.com
