Hillcats earn their third walk-off win of the season

The Lynchburg Hillcats played in a back-and-forth affair with the the Down East Wood Ducks, ultimately ending on top in a 3-2 win in 10 innings.

Lynchburg (5-5, 37-40) snaps its four-game losing skid with the win while Down East (6-4, 56-24) sees its five-game winning streak come to an end.

With Steven Kwan standing on third base with two away in the bottom of the 10th inning, Tyler Freeman came to the plate against Tyler Depreta-Johnson (Loss, 0-1), a position player on the mound for the Wood Ducks. Freeman ripped a single into right field to score Kwan, winning the ballgame for the Hillcats 3-2.

Earlier in the game, Lynchburg took the lead in the second. Will Benson singled following a Mitch Reeves walk. Gavin Collins grounded into a double play to erase Reeves at third. Jodd Carter came up to the plate with a runner on second and two away and found some grass for an RBI single to put the Hillcats ahead 1-0.

In the fourth, back-to-back doubles by Yohel Pozo and Curtis Terry plated a run for Down East to tie the game at 1-1.

Carter came up to the dish again in the bottom of the fifth inning and swatted a solo homer to left for his ninth homer of the season, lifting Lynchburg to a 2-1 lead.

With things going down to the wire, Down East rallied in the eighth. Sam Huff drew a walk and Diosbel Arias singled. Josh Altmann reached on a fielder’s choice when Huff was erased trying to score. Then Pozo lifted a fly ball to right field. The sacrifice fly scored Arias to knot the game up 2-2. The game then went into extra innings.

Freeman went 3-for-5 in the game while Carter also collected multiple hits, driving in two.

Cody Morris allowed just one run over five innings while striking out seven batters in his second Carolina League start this season. Riley Echols allowed one unearned run over 2.1 frames. Dakody Clemmer (Win, 3-1) shut down the Wood Ducks over 2.2 innings.

Reid Anderson was tagged with one run over four frames in the start for the Woodies. Wes Robertson allowed one run over two innings, while Cole Uvila tossed three innings of no-run baseball. Depreta-Johnson allowed the winning run in 0.2 innings.

Lynchburg will hope for the series split when it faces off against the Wood Ducks on Sunday. Lefty Kirk McCarty (0-2, 7.00) will take the mound for the Hillcats in the game. He will face off against right-hander Collin Wiles (1-0, 3.60). First pitch is slated for 3 p.m.

Max Gun and Anders Jorstad will be on the air at 2:50 p.m. with the Hillcats pre-game show on TuneIn Radio and the Radio434 App.

Sunday’s contest will be a Sandlot Sunday, in which all kids will be able to run the bases following the conclusion of the game.

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