The Lynchburg Hillcats avoided the sweep tonight beating the Frederick Keys 7-1. Will Skinner led the Lynchburg offense with two hits, including a home run. He drove in one and scored twice. Elmer Reyes chimed in with a season-high three RBI as well. On the mound A.J. Holland delivered his best start of the season, and the bullpen backed him up with four more scoreless frames.
The Keys scored first with two hits in the opening frame. Zane Chavez doubled home leadoff hitter Glynn Davis, who reached on error, to put Frederick up 1-0.
A brief delay took place before the second inning could get started. Home plate umpire Jimmy Hollingsworth was struck by a wild pitch in the first inning below the belt. The action was paused initially for a minute or two, but Hollingsworth finished the inning. As the Keys took the field, Hollingsworth was walked off the field by Keys’ trainer Patrick Wesley. After a 14-minute delay, J.J. January, who had been umpiring the bases came out with gear on to call the balls and strikes. He would be the only umpire on the field for the rest of the game.
After a scoreless second on both sides, the Hillcats put themselves on the board in the third. Matt Weaver led off the inning with a single. Skinner followed with a double, putting runners at second and third. Then, with one out, Matt Lipka cleared the bases with a triple to left center field. Reyes capped off the rally with an RBI-groundout to shortstop, scoring Lipka. The HIllcats led 3-1.
Skinner added to the Lynchburg lead in the fifth with a solo home run, his second of the season.
Pitching came through in a big way for the Hillcats tonight as well. After giving up an unearned run in the first inning, Holland didn’t allow another hit pitching through the fifth. He gave up just two hits and walked two, while striking out a season-high seven.
More insurance came around for the ‘Cats in the eighth inning. Reyes came up with runners at second and third and the infield drawn in. He slapped a spinning ball through the right side of the infield to score Fernando De Los Santos and Lipka. Reyes drove in three runs in the game, and now has 10 RBI on the season tying him for the team lead with William Beckwith and Robby Hefflinger. The Hillcats led 6-1 going to the ninth and adding one more in the final frame to take their ultimate lead of 7-1.
Holland (1-0) earned the win, while Tim Berry (0-1) suffered the loss. Berry was impressive striking out 11 Hillcats in six innings, but also gave up four runs on four hits.
The Hillcats improved to 7-5 and the Keys fell to 7-5. Both teams are now tied with the Wilmington Blue Rocks for first place in the Northern Division.
Lynchburg returns home tomorrow night to host the Salem Red Sox at 6:05pm. It’s another Theme Thursday at City Stadium, International Night. It’s also Thursday Cheers, which means $2 drink specials. Gates open at 5pm. On the mound for the Hillcats will be RHP Mark Pope (0-0) against RHP Kyle Stroup (0-1) for the Red Sox. If you can’t make it to the ballpark, tune into the live play-by-play broadcast with Erik Wilson and Jake Levy on 97.9 FM The Planet and online atlynchburg-hillcats.com
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Chris Graham
