Long ball, Ks doom Lynchburg Hillcats

The Lynchburg Hillcats surrendered three home runs on the mound and struck out 13 times at the plate in their 6-4 loss to the Frederick Keys tonight. Elmer Reyes turned in a pair of singles and two RBI in his return to the lineup, but it wasn’t enough as the Hillcats left two on in the ninth and dropped the series opener.

Reyes injured his thumb diving for a ball at shortstop last Wednesday in Lynchburg. He finished that game but hadn’t been in the lineup since. He responded with an RBI-single in his first at-bat back in the top of the second inning tonight. The Hillcats led 1-0.

Hillcats starter David Peterson held the Keys scoreless through the first three innings, but ran into trouble in the fourth. After a single, a fielder’s choice, and walk, Nicky Delmonico came up with two on and one out. He launched a three-run homer deep over the right field wall. Brenden Webb then sent the very next pitch out to right field as well. The Keys led 4-1.

Robby Hefflinger doubled in Ross Heffley in the sixth inning to bring the Hillcats with two. Frederick’s starter Eduardo Rodriguez then struck two batters to get out of the inning, giving him eight on the night. Roriguez (1-1) gave up two runs in six frames on five hits as he earned his first win of the season.

In the bottom of the sixth inning, there was a scary moment for Keys’ catcher Michael Ohlman. As he ducked out of the way of a breaking ball from reliever Caleb Brewer, he appeared to pop his right shoulder out of it’s socket. He left the game and Zane Chavez pinch hit with a 1-1 count. He worked the count full before hitting his first home run of the season. An error, walk, and single followed the homer, loading the bases. A wild pitch would bring home another run and the Keys led 6-2.

The Hillcats wouldn’t score again until then ninth. Reyes reached on an error, and drove in a run in the process. Then, Reyes came around to score on a one out groudout from Matt Lipka. The ‘Cats had the tying run aboard with two outs and William Beckwith at the plate, but Beckwith went down swinging to end the game.

Peterson (0-1) suffered the loss, giving up four earned runs in four innings on six hits and a walk, while striking out one.

Lynchburg and Frederick are both 6-4, and tied for first place in the Northern Division.

Game two of the three game series is set for 7pm tomorrow night. RHP Navery Moore (0-2) will start for the Hillcats against RHP Tyler Wilson (0-0) for the Keys. The Hillcats On-Deck Show powered by Honda/Suzuki of Lynchburg will go on the air at 6:40pm. Join Erik Wilson for all the play-by-play action live on 97.9 FM The Planet and online atlynchburg-hillcats.com