It was a slugfest in Lynchburg with each team sending a pair of bombs over the fence. The Hillcats were able to walk away victorious thanks to Tommy La Stella’s sixth inning homer.
Rain was looming throughout the evening, but the Hillcats and Wilmington Blue Rocks were able to squeeze in a game at Lynchburg City Stadium.
Lynchburg jumped out to an early lead in the bottom of the second. Tim Smith reached on Jason Adam’s first walk of the game. Edward Salcedo made him pay dearly, crushing a 2-1 pitch deep into the gloomy night sky for his third homer of the season.
Wilmington answered back in the top of the third starting with Alex McClure’s single. Whit Merrifield blasted the first pitch he saw to deep center, missing a home run by just a foot or two. McClure cruised home and Merrifield raced to third. Eventually he was stranded.
The Blue Rocks would take the lead in the top of the fourth. Cody Martin threw a belt-high fastball to Brian Fletcher. He turned on the pitch and sent it over the left field wall. Brett Eibner golfed a low fastball to dead center field where it hit the netting behind the wall for back-to-back jacks.
The lead didn’t last long for the Blue Rocks. Smith got aboard with his first hit of the day. Salcedo added a single for his second hit of the day. The hot-hitting Chris Garcia lined a double into the right-center field gap that scored Smith to make it 3-3. One batter later, Mycal Jones would get his first RBI as a Hillcat by hitting a deep fly ball to left that scored Salcedo from third to extend the lead to 4-3.
Martin relinquished the lead in the sixth. It started with Eibner walking, a bunt-single by Geulin Beltre and Juan Graterol sacrificing himself to move runners into scoring position. Kevin David lined a single back up the middle to score Eibner and knot it up at fours. The Blue Rocks couldn’t capitalize and it would cost them dearly.
Tommy La Stella added the Hillcats’ and the game’s final run with a solo blast to start the inning. The score would remain 5-4 and Lynchburg will be able to escape the rain and the Blue Rocks offense for the victory.
Cody Martin (5-3) got his second consecutive win. He went 6.0 innings, allowing 10 hits, four runs—all earned–and fanning three. He also walked one and hit one. Jason Adam (1-5) lost his fourth straight. He allowed five earned runs on seven hits in 6.0 innings. He walked one and didn’t have a strike out.
Game two is set for tomorrow at 6:05 pm. Gates will open tomorrow at 5:00 pm at Lynchburg City Stadium. Tomorrow Lynchburg will send Gus Schlosser (3-2, 5.02) to the mound to take on Santiago Garrido (0-0, 0.00). If you can’t make it to the park, tune in and listen live to all the action on 105.5 FM KD Country and online at lynchburg-hillcats.com starting with the Hillcats On-Deck Show coming on the air at 5:40pm with Erik Wilson and Mike Viso.
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Chris Graham
