McCarty earns his first win of the season in Hillcats victory

For the second game in a row, the Lynchburg Hillcats went down to the wire against the Down East Wood Ducks, outlasting them in a 2-1 win.

Lynchburg (6-5, 38-40) splits the four-game series to remain above .500 against the Wood Ducks (6-5, 56-25) on the season.

In the first inning, Diosbel Arias came up to the plate with two away. He lifted a fly ball into right field that just snuck over the fence for a home run to give the Wood Ducks a 1-0 advantage after one frame.

The Hillcats put a rally together in relatively short order. In the third inning, Steven Kwan and Tyler Friis hit back-to-back singles to put runners on the corners with none away. Tyler Freeman grounded out to the second baseman to plate Kwan, tying the game at 1-1. Nolan Jones and Will Benson drew walks to load the bases with one out. Then Oscar Gonzalez grounded out to score Friis, pushing the Lynchburg lead to 2-1. Down East would never threaten again as the Hillcats cruised to the win.

Freeman had his second multi-hit effort in a row, going 2-for-4 in the game.

Kirk McCarty (Win, 1-2) fired five innings of one-run baseball while striking out a season-high seven batters. Jonathan Teaney helped Lynchburg hold onto the lead with two scoreless frames, and Yapson Gomez (Save, 2) blanked the Wood Ducks in the final two innings.

Collin Wiles (Loss, 1-1) surrendered two runs across 4.2 innings in the start for the Woodies. Scott Engler took care of the rest, shutting out the Hillcats over 3.1 innings.

Lynchburg will head to Frederick for a short three-game road trip on Monday. Right-hander Justin Garza (4-5, 4.88) will take on the Keys for the second time in a week. He will be met by lefty DL Hall (2-3, 4.35) who was roughed up for three runs over four innings when the Hillcats faced him last week. Game time is set for 7 p.m.

Max Gun will be on the air at 6:50 p.m. with the Hillcats pre-game show on TuneIn Radio and the Radio434 App.

The Hillcats will return to City Stadium on Thursday for a Fourth of July extravaganza and Military Appreciation Weekend. Thursday’s game includes a jersey auction, a hot dog eating contest, postgame fireworks, and much more. Aloha Weekend festivities also include Fantastic Friday, Sparkling Saturday and Sandlot Sunday. Friday’s game will feature a hat giveaway to the first 1,000 fans and postgame fireworks presented by Foster Fuels and KD Country. Saturday’s postgame fireworks display is presented by MemberOne.

For tickets or more information, visit lynchburg-hillcats.com, call 434-528-1144, or visit the City Stadium box office.