Big second inning dooms Lynchburg in 8-1 loss

Winston-Salem used a five-run second inning to break a scoreless tie, and the Dash lead the rest of the way as they defeated the Lynchburg Hillcats, 8-1, at BB&T Ballpark Friday night.

Winston-Salem sent nine men to the plate in the second inning to take a commanding lead. Dace Kime worked a perfect first inning with only seven pitches but ran into trouble immediately in the second on back-to-back singles by Chris Jacobs and Omar Narvaez. Two batters later, Cleuluis Rondon singled home the first run of the game.

Winston-Salem broke it open with a pair of two-out extra-base hits in the frame. First, T.J. Williams smacked a two-run triple down the right-field line to make it 3-0 in favor of the Dash. Later, Jake Peter hit a two-run double to push the margin to 5-0.

Matt Heidenreich shut down the Hillcats offense all evening, as Lynchburg’s only run of the game was unearned in the third inning. Ivan Castillo reached on an error and advanced to second on a base hit by Clint Frazier. With two outs, Bradley Zimmer drove in the Hillcats’ lone run of the contest with a single to left.

Lynchburg had at least one baserunner in every inning except the first, but the Hillcats could not bring any of them in. Lynchburg left 11 men on base, which included stranding the bases loaded in the third. Each time the Hillcats threatened, the Dash escaped. Heidenreich (7-0, 1.78) struck out four and did not allow an earned run in six innings. Andre Wheeler tossed two scoreless inning of relief for Winston-Salem despite the Hillcats seeing four men reach base against him. Peter Tago allowed two baserunners in the ninth but also escaped unscathed.

Leading 6-1 entering the eighth, Jake Peter singled in front of Trey Michalczewski, who hit his fifth home run of the year to right field to give the Dash an 8-1 victory.

Lynchburg lost its first series since being swept by the Carolina Mudcats May 5 through May 7…Bradley Zimmer has reached base multiple times in 13 consecutive games and posted his seventh multi-hit performance during this stretch with a 2-for-5 effort…Overall, Zimmer is tied with Luigi Rodriguez for the team lead with 15 multi-hit games this season…Paul Hendrix went 2-for-3 with two doubles…Hendrix came into the series with four doubles for the year and hit three doubles during the series to increase his season output to seven…

Lynchburg continues its seven-game road swing when it begins a four-game series at Frederick Saturday at 6 p.m. Michael Peoples (3-3, 7.23) starts for the Hillcats against lefty Luis Gonzalez (3-3, 7.15) of the Keys. Fans can tune in to the action on ESPN Virginia 93.3 FM and 1320 AM as well as www.lynchburg-hillcats.com beginning at 5:40 p.m. for the Hillcats On-Deck Show.