Julian Merryweather continued his hot start for Lyncburg limiting the Potomac Nationals to one run in seven innings. The ‘Cats earned a 7-2 victory behind a collective offensive effort that included 13 hits. Six Hillcats picked up RBIs, and the team also went 6-for-15 with runners in scoring position on the night. Lynchburg gained another game in the standings to lead Potomac by five as they moved to 22-8.
Julian Merryweather (5-1) pitched seven frames while sitting down eight Nationals via the strikeout, which fell one shy of a career high. He only allowed five hits, one of which was a solo home run to increase his ERA to 0.73 for the season. Merryweather maintains a Carolina League leading five wins. The right-hander wasted little time with batters, as he tossed 61 strikes in his 86 total pitches.
Jordan Milbrath and Cole Sulser finished the contest for the ‘Cats by each pitching one inning. Milbrath pitched the eighth frame, allowing one run after a leadoff triple to Andrew Stevenson. He quickly pitched out of the inning by retiring the next three batters. Sulser pitched around a double and a walk for a scoreless ninth inning. The reliever struck out two batters and lowered his ERA to 4.02 for the season.
The Hillcats scored seven runs on 13 hits to complete the delayed three game sweep of the Nationals. Lynchburg averages a minor league leading 6.2 runs per game thus far. Every player to appear in the game reached base for the ‘Cats, and six of them came around to score.
The scoring began in first inning for Lynchburg as Taylor Murphy scorched a single to right field which brought in Yu-Cheng Chang. In the third frame the ‘Cats sent every batter to the plate and scored three runs to push the lead to 4-0. Anthony Santander doubled in the speedster Greg Allen, who lead off the inning with a single. Bobby Bradley followed that up with a double of his own to plate Yu-Cheng Chang and Anthony Santander.
Taylor Murphy and Dorssys Paulino opened the fifth frame with a single and hit by pitch. Mark Mathias then doubled off of the center field wall to bring in another run and break the game open. Daniel Salters added an RBI single, and Claudio Bautista’ssacrifice fly capped the scoring.
With the eight strikeouts that Julian Merryweather racked up he now has 28 on the year, which is equal to the amount of hits he has allowed…In 37 innings pitched he has also only allowed seven walks…Bobby Bradley increased his Carolina League lead in RBIs to 33 for the year…The ‘Cats have now sat in first place in the Carolina League for 22 days and been above a .500 winning percentage for 28.
Lynchburg will begin a three game series against the Salem Red Sox on Tuesday at 7:05 PM. Left-hander Sean Brady (2-1, 5.13) will be on the bump for the ‘Cats. The match up will be between the top team in the Northern Division and the leader in the Southern Division. 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 6:45.
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