Anthony Santander hit a grand slam from the right side of the plate and a two-run homer batting left-handed later in the game to lead the Hillcats to a team-record five home runs in a 15-4 rout Saturday night at Frawley Stadium.
Lynchburg posted a season-high 22 hits, which included eight different Hillcats with multi-hit games and five different players with a three-hit performance.
Mark Mathias, Yu-Cheng Chang and Francisco Mejia each had home runs, and Sean Brady tied a career high with eight strikeouts.
Anthony Santander set a career mark with six RBIs, and he only needed two swings of the bat to achieve it. With one out and the game tied, 3-3, Lynchburg broke it open with six straight men reaching. Tyler Krieger, Luigi Rodriguez and Paul Hendrixeach had singles with Hendrix’s scoring Krieger. Greg Allen was hit by a pitch to load the bases, and Mark Mathias drew a walk to make it 5-3 and knock starting pitcher Matt Tenuta out of the game.
Facing left-hander Brennan Henry out of the bullpen, Santander hit an opposite-field grand slam to right to stretch the lead to 9-3. It marked Santander’s 12th home run of the season and his third batting right-handed this year. It also represented the Hillcats’ league-leading fourth grand slam of 2016. Lynchburg went on to score another run in the fourth on three consecutive singles by Yu-Cheng Chang, Francisco Mejia, and Krieger. The Hillcats scored a total of seven runs on seven hits in the frame to take a commanding 10-3 advantage.
With the game in hand in the ninth, Mathias hit an RBI double to left-center field to plate Allen and push the margin to 13-3. The next batter, Santander hit a two-run homer while batting left-handed to make it 15-3. Wilmington tallied a run in the home half to make the final count 15-4.
Lynchburg came two hits shy of a Hillcats-era record with 22 Saturday night. Mathias, Chang, Mejia, Krieger, and Bobby Bradley all had three-hit games. Allen, Santander and Hendrix each had multi-hit games. Luigi Rodriguez went 1-4 with a stolen base, RBI, and run scored.
Every Hillcat in the lineup had at least one hit and scored at least one run. Seven of the nine had at least one RBI as well. Lynchburg hit five home runs in a game for the fourth time in the Hillcats era (since 1995) and the second time in as many seasons after Lynchburg also achieved the feat against Myrtle Beach July 22, 2015.
Bradley doubled on the first pitch of the second inning, and Chang promptly followed with a two-run homer to center to start the scoring. Mathias hit a solo home run in the fifth inning to straightaway center field, and Mejia drilled his first home run as a Hillcat on a solo shot to right in the eighth. Mejia went 3-6 in the game to extend his hitting streak to 35 in a row dating back to May 27when he was with Lake County.
Sean Brady (9-3) tied a career high with eight strikeouts, which he also achieved against Wilmington on May 26. The lefty went six innings and held Wilmington to three runs, two earned, on eight hits. He did not walk anyone and earned his seventh win in his last nine outings.
This was the third multi-homer game in Santander’s career…He has 26 RBIs in his last 23 games and moved into a tie withBradley for the league lead with 66 RBIs for the year…Not far behind is Chang with 64…The Hillcats fell one shy of a season high in runs scored, as they tallied 16 runs in a game at Frawley Stadium earlier this year on June 3.
Lynchburg plays Wilmington Sunday at 5:05 p.m. Anderson Polanco (3-2, 4.25) will start for the ‘Cats. 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 4:45 p.m.
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Chris Graham
