Hillcats overpower Carolina with three homers, 12-10

Lynchburg and Carolina combined for 18 runs in the first three innings. The Hillcats prevailed 12-10 with only seven hits in the game, three of which left the yard. Francisco Mejia hit a grand slam in the first inning of his first game in nearly a week. Bobby Bradley and Greg Allen added homers as well.

Carolina outhit Lynchburg 13-7, but none of them left the yard. The Mudcats pounced on starter Anderson Polanco early and scored four runs in the first frame. The Hillcats answered with a five run inning with the help of walks to Greg Allen and Anthony Santander. A Bobby Bradley single drove in Allen. With the bases loaded Francisco Mejia hit his second home run for the Hillcats and extended his hitting streak to 37 games overall. Lynchburg took a 5-4 into the second.

Carolina tacked on two more runs in the second after a Luis Valenzuela double and a single by Omar Obregon. Obregonadvanced to third on an error and scored on a groundout by Isaias Tejeda. Lynchburg took the lead in the bottom half with three more runs. Mark Mathias was hit by a pitch above the eye and stretchered off the field, but he checked out okay at the hospital.Anthony Santander and Yu-Cheng Chang walked and singled respectively, which drove in Tyler Krieger. Two batters later,Luigi Rodriguez singled to drive in two runs and make the score 8-6.

Bobby Bradley hit his league leading 19^th homer to drive in Paul Hendrix and Krieger, both of whom reached on walks. Greg Allen hit a solo shot over the right field wall in the fifth inning to give the Hillcats a 12-8 lead. The Mudcats added two more runs in the ninth, but Trevor Frank held off the rally to give the ‘Cats a 12-10 victory.

Cam Hill (6-1) earned the win after entering in the third and only allowing one earned run in three frames. Mitch Brown andDavid Speer worked a combined three scoreless innings with Brown pitching two of those and striking out three.

The Hillcats now have 95 home runs, which puts them on pace for 136, breaking the record of 131 set by the 2002 team…Lynchburg and Carolina have combined for 54 runs in the first four games of the series…The ‘Cats have 17 homers in their past 10 contests.

Lynchburg will wrap up its five-game series with the Mudcats Sunday at 2 p.m. Southpaw Luis Lugo (6-3, 3.99) will be on the mound for Lynchburg against Caleb Beech (1-2, 4.60). Fans can listen to the action on 93.3 FM and 1320 AM as well as www.lynchburg-hillcats.com, beginning with the Hillcats On-Deck Show at 1:45 p.m.