Lynchburg tops P-Nats, 7-0: Hillcats have won seven in a row

For the third consecutive start, Julian Merryweather set the table for a combined shutout by the Hillcats pitching staff, as Lynchburg swept Potomac with a 7-0 victory Wednesday afternoon at Pfitzner Stadium. Merryweather went 6 2/3 innings, andDavid Speer tossed the final 2 1/3 frames. Yu-Cheng Chang and Bobby Bradley homered to lead the offense. Lynchburg has won seven in a row, all on the road.

 Julian Merryweather continued his amazing streak to begin the season with 6 2/3 scoreless innings to push his overall streak to 17 2/3 to open 2016. The fifth-round pick out of Oklahoma Baptist in 2014, Merryweather struck out four and only allowed five baserunners on five separate singles. For the year, Merryweather has fanned 13 while only walking two.

David Speer entered with two outs and the bases empty in the seventh. He struck out three and only gave up one hit to finish the game.

Lynchburg claimed a 2-0 lead in the first inning before there was even an out. Claudio Bautista drew a leadoff walk, and Changdrilled a two-run homer off the scoreboard in left field to put the Hillcats on top for the rest of the game.

The score remained 2-0 until the sixth when Taylor Murphy started a two-out rally with a broken-bat single to left. Mark Mathiasdoubled to plate Murphy, and Ivan Castillo used a bloop double down the left-field line to make it 4-0.

In the seventh inning, Chang doubled, and Paulino singled to put the first two men aboard for Bradley. The power-hitting first baseman hit an opposite-field home run down the left field line to push the final margin to 7-0. It marked Bradley’s third home run of the year, two of which have been to left. He currently leads the Carolina League with 15 RBIs.

The Hillcats have homered in 10 of their 14 games this year…Lynchburg leads the league with a total 15 homers…This is the second team shutout that David Speer has contributed to…Lynchburg has three shutouts this year after posting nine for all of 2015.

Lynchburg returns home on a seven-game winning streak. The Hillcats host Frederick Thursday at 6:30 p.m. It’s 90’s Nickelodeon Night at City Stadium. Fans can listen to the action on 93.3 FM and 1320 AM as well as www.lynchburg-hillcats.com, beginning with the Hillcats On-Deck Show at 6:15 p.m.