Lynchburg Hillcats silenced by Winston-Salem, 5-0

The Lynchburg Hillcats were blanked, 5-0, by a strong pitching performance from the Winston-Salem Dash Saturday night at City Stadium.  The Hillcats mustered just three hits on the night. Jarett Miller struck out seven batters in six innings of work but surrendered four runs to take the loss.

The Hillcats (1-1, 37-34) trailed from start to finish as the Dash (1-1, 39-33) scored two runs in the first inning.  Joey Demichele walked to lead off the game then came around to score on an Adam Heisler triple.  Heisler came across on a groundout by Kevan Smith, the first out of the game.

The Dash added another run in the third on a Josh Richardson solo home run.  Richardson had two home runs in the game and now has three in the series.  He entered yesterday’s game without a home run in the Carolina League this season.

The Dash got their fourth run off of Miller in the sixth.  With two outs in the inning, Miller struck out Courtney Hawkins but the ball kicked away from catcher Cory Brownsten and Hawkins reached to extend the inning.  The next batter, Rangel Ravelo, lined one into the gap in left-center for an RBI-double.

Miller (5-4) was pulled after the sixth, giving up four runs on four hits while striking out seven.  Bryan Blough (6-4) continued his impressive June for the Dash, scattering three hits over eight scoreless innings while fanning five.

The Hillcats look to take the series in the rubber match Sunday at City Stadium.  First pitch is at 6:05pm with gates opening at 5pm.  It’s Bark at the Park Night so bring your dogs out to the stadium plus anyone who donates Purina-brand dog food at the gate will get free admission.  There will be a dog parade on the field before the game and doggy relief stations set up on the concourse.  Blaine Sims (0-2, 5.00) makes his third start of the season for the Hillcats againstvs Myles Jaye for the Dash.  If you can’t make it to the game, join Erik Wilson and Jake Levy for all the play-by-play action starting with the Hillcats On-Deck Show, powered by Honda/Suzuki of Lynchburg, at 5:40 on 97.9 FM The Planet and lynchburg-hillcats.com