Dylan Baker struck out a career-high nine batters, including Major Leaguer Jayson Werth, to set the tone in his five innings of work and earn the victory. Potomac nearly staged an incredible comeback by scoring six runs in the ninth, but the Lynchburg Hillcats held on for an 8-6 win in the season opener at Pfitzner Stadium Thursday night.
Baker recorded five strikeouts in his first two frames and only allowed one baserunner out of the 16 batters he faced during his outing, which was a two-walk to Werth in the first inning.
Potomac starter Nick Pivetta matched Baker with scoreless baseball through four innings, but the Hillcats finally broke through in the fifth. Luigi Rodriguez drew a one-out walk and advanced to third on a single by James Roberts. Ivan Castillo hit an infield single to plate Rodriguez for an RBI and give the Hillcats a 1-0 lead.
Lynchburg used two big innings in the sixth and ninth to seemingly put the game away. Bradley Zimmer lead off the sixth with a walk to spark a three-run frame. He scored two batters later on a triple to right-center field by Eric Haase. Haase scored on a wild pitch to push Lynchburg ahead, 3-0. Paul Hendrix belted a solo home run to the opposite field down the right-field line to make it 4-0 in the sixth. Justin Brantley maintained that margin with two scoreless innings in relief of Baker that included three strikeouts.
Lynchburg tacked on four more in the ninth thanks to the first four batters reaching. Mike Papi walked, Clint Frazier singled, and Zimmer singled to center to load the bases. Nellie Rodriguez ripped a double to drive in two runs. Later in the frame, Rodriguez walked with the bases loaded to make it 7-0, and Roberts capped off the scoring with a sacrifice fly to right field.
With an 8-0 lead in hand and two outs in the ninth inning, Lynchburg looked to be on its way to a convincing Opening Day win. However, it took more than 45 minutes to record the final out. Six straight batters reached, and then some of the lights beyond left field went out to cause a 36-minute delay with the Hillcats leading 8-4. Once the lighting was fully restored, a fielding error allowed two more runs to come across and bring the Nationals within two, 8-6. With the tying run on first base, Ben Hellerstruck out Wilmer Difo to end the game.
Lynchburg returns to action Friday night at 7:05 p.m. when it plays Potomac in the second game of a seven-game road trip to open the season. The Hillcats On-Deck Show will begin at 6:40 p.m., and fans can tune in on ESPN Radio 93.3 FM/1320 AM orwww.lynchburg-hillcats.com to follow the action.
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