Gavin Collins went 3-4 and tied his career high with four RBIs, while Shane Bieber struck out five in six shutout innings to help the Hillcats blank Winston-Salem in the nightcap of a doubleheader, 5-0. The Dash pitched a shutout in the first contest of the night, 3-0.
In the second game, the Hillcats plated a run in four of their six turns on offense. In the first inning, a single down the third base line from Gavin Collins scored Ivan Castillo from second and gave the ‘Cats a 1-0 lead. In the second, Ka’ai Tom hit a leadoff double, which set up Daniel Salters to drive him in and extend Lynchburg’s lead to 2-0.
In the fourth, the Hillcats tacked on another. With two on and two out, Collins produced again, driving in Salters from second to make it 3-0. The Hillcats added a pair in the bottom half of the sixth. A two-out double from Collins drove in Haggerty and Castillo, giving the Hillcats a 5-0 advantage. For Collins, it marked his 16th RBI in just 13 games at the Advanced-A level. It also gave him his second four-RBI performance in his professional career with the first one occurring on July 9 against Salem.
Bieber (6-1) shut out the Dash for six innings while scattering seven hits. He did not walk anyone and fanned five to improve his Hillcats numbers to 82 strikeouts and two unintentional walks. Argenis Angulo struck out a pair in the seventh to complete Lynchburg’s seventh shutout of the year. For Winston-Salem, starter Bernardo Flores allowed three runs on eight hits over just 3 2/3 innings to fall to 0-3 with the Dash.
In the first game, Alec Hansen was virtually unhittable. He waited until his final batter to allow his only hit while striking out eight over 5 2/3. Hansen struck out all but one Hillcats batter. Aside from a Sam Haggerty single, Hansen’s only other baserunners came on two walks and a hit batter. For Lynchburg, Shao Ching-Chiang allowed three runs on six hits in 6 2/3 frames.
Winston-Salem struck in the first frame. After a two-out error put Jameson Fisher on second base, a single from recently-added Eloy Jimenez brought him around to score. The bats went quiet until the top of the seventh. With the bases loaded and two outs, a bloop single from Yeyson Yrizarri scored both Matt Rose and Seby Zavala, stretching the Dash’s lead to 3-0.
The Hillcats will have an Off Day on Wednesday before heading to Potomac. They take on the Nationals in a four-game set starting Thursday when Aaron Civale (5-2, 2.63) takes the hill for Lynchburg at 7:05 p.m. Fans can listen to the game live atwww.lynchburg-hillcats.com.
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Chris Graham
