Hillcats pick up their first win of the season

Lynchburg notched its first win on the season after defeating the Delmarva Shorebirds (3-3) in the third game of their weeklong series. Hillcats pitching combined for 18 strikeouts over nine innings, which helped lead to the 6-2 victory.

The Hillcats had some chances to score in the first two innings, but left runners stranded in scoring position to open the game. However, Rodney Boone was pitching a gem and recorded five strikeouts through two innings of work. He would eventually surrender a run in the third after doubles by Noelberth Romero and Mishael Deson gave the Shorebirds a 1-0 lead.

Boone would go four full innings and finish with eight strikeouts.

The Shorebirds would pick up another run off of Zach Pettway allowed Romero to score again after a Deson single. That would be all the scoring Delmarva would get for the rest of the game.

After a gem of a start from Shane Davis for the Shorebirds, Daniel Federman came in to start the fifth and the Hillcats bats came to life.

Isaiah Greene walked to lead off the inning and would advance to second on a wild pitch. Yordys Valdes would bring him home with an RBI single up the middle to cut the lead to one. After Jake Fox moved him over to third with a double to the wall, Dayan Frias came up huge with a 2-run single into right to give the Hillcats their first lead of the series.

Lynchburg would tack on another run in the seventh on a Jorge Burgos fielder’s choice that would score Fox, and then another run in the eighth after a Viktor Planchart RBI fielder’s choice that would score Luis Durango.

Elvis Jerez would wrap up the ballgame in relief by pitching the final two innings. Jerez struck out six batters, only allowing one base runner.

The Hillcats will be back in action on Friday night as they will take on the Shorebirds in game four of the series. First pitch is scheduled for 6:30.