Lynchburg broke a 2-2 tie with a pair of runs in the ninth to take a 4-2 win at Wilmington Wednesday afternoon despite going 0-10 with runners in scoring position.
The Hillcats never trailed in the contest and led on three different occasions. Their first lead came in the second inning. Yonathan Mendoza singled and advanced to third on a Willi Castro double. Jodd Carter brought in Mendoza with a groundout to shortstop. Castro’s double extended his hitting streak to 11 games, the longest by any Hillcat this year.
Wilmington tied the game at 1-all in the fifth, but Lynchburg answered immediately with a run in the top of the sixth. Ivan Castillosingled, and Sam Haggerty walked. A double steal moved them both into scoring position, and Andrew Calica hit a sacrifice fly to center field to give the ‘Cats a 2-1 advantage. Wilmington knotted it up, 2-2, in the seventh.
Haggerty and Calica each walked to begin the ninth inning. A wild pitch allowed them to advance to second and third base with nobody out. Sicnarf Loopstok and Martin Cervenka hit back-to-back sacrifice flies to drive them both in and make it 4-2 in favor of the Hillcats. For Loopstok, it represented his team-leading 24th RBI.
Argenis Angulo came in for the bottom of the ninth and struck out the final batter to notch his fifth save of the season. Billy Strode (1-3) earned the win with a scoreless eighth. Franco Terrero (0-3) took the loss by surrendering the decisive runs in the ninth.
Lynchburg and Wilmington square off in a rubber match Thursday at 6:35 p.m. Shane Bieber (0-0, 1.93) will take the mound for the Hillcats. Fans can listen to the game live at www.lynchburg-hillcats.com with pre-game coverage beginning at 6:30.
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Chris Graham
