A slugfest ensued in Lynchburg today with each team belting 13 hits. It was the Hillcats that came out on top, 8-5, thanks to a two-run homer in the sixth by Matt Weaver. Chris Garcia, Emerson Landoni, Nick Ahmed, Mycal Jones, David Rohm and Weaver all had multi-hit games in the victory. The win was the Hillcats seventh in a row, which is their longest win streak of the season.
After Aaron Northcraft’s no-hitter last night, it didn’t take long for that pressure to be taken off either Dimasther Delgado or Matt Barnes.
Delgado allowed a lead-off single to Shannon Wilkerson of the Red Sox to start the game. It was a shaky first inning after back-to-back hits, but Delgado settled down to not allow a run.
In the bottom of the first, Nick Ahmed hit a bomb off his college teammate at the University of Conneticut, Matt Barnes. It was a solo shot that gave the ‘Cats the early 1-0 lead.
Lynchburg took a 2-0 lead in the bottom of the second. Matt Weaver got it started with a single. Emerson Landoni, who entered for an injured Matt Lipka, got a bunt single to move Weaver to second and Ahmed walked. With the bases loaded, Tommy La Stella hit a ball to deep center field and Weaver scored on the sacrifice fly.
The top of the fourth saw two quick outs before Xander Bogaerts hit his 10th home run of the season. The solo home run cut the lead to 2-1 and started the back-and-forth scoring.
Lynchburg initially answered back in the bottom of the fourth. David Rohm got the first RBI of the inning when he hit a deep fly ball to center field that scored Chris Garcia from third after he reached on a walk and moved to third on a Mycal Jones double. Braeden Schlehuber, who was on after being plunked, did not advance. Jones did advance on the play that gave Lynchburg a 3-1 lead. With Weaver at the plate, Barnes threw an secondary pitch in the dirt that skipped by Christian Vazquez behind the plate. Jones raced home to give the ‘Cats a 4-1 advantage and Schlehuber moved to second. Weaver struck out, but Landoni picked him up with a single out to right-center that scored Schlehuber. Lynchburg had a 5-1 cushion.
Salem was not to be outdone. They started with three consecutive hits by Vazquez, Coyle and LeBlanc. The LeBlanc single scored Vazquez to cut the Hillcat lead to 5-2. With Wilkerson at plate, Coyle looked to be caught on a back pick, but Coyle broke for third and Ahmed delivered the throw to Landoni at third. The ball squirted by Landoni and Coyle scurried home to make it 5-3, while LeBlanc moved to second. Just two batters later, Heiker Meneses stroked a single that scored LeBlanc to make it 5-4.
The Sox would tie it up in the top of the sixth when Vazquez hit his fourth home run of the season off of righty Ian Marshall of the Hillcats.
Andrew Jones was on the mound in the sixth when Rohm lead off with a single, then Weaver destroyed a fastball that gave the ‘Cats a 7-5 lead.
For good measure, in the bottom of the seventh, Garcia hit his sixth bomb of the season to extend it to 8-5.
The winning pitcher was Ian Marshall (1-0). He went one and one-third inning in relief of Delgado. Marshall allowed one run on two hits, while striking out two. The losing pitcher was Jones, who gave up the go-ahead homer to Weaver. In total, Jones went two and one-third innings, allowed two runs on four hits. Juan Jaime earned his 14th save of the season.
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Chris Graham
