Lynchburg defeated Potomac to win the Northern Division Championship Series Friday night at City Stadium, 3-1. Yu-Cheng Chang slugged a two-run homer in the seventh, which ended up being the difference in the game. Sean Brady dealt 5 1/3 shutout innings and held the Nationals to three hits.
After a 14-inning affair that saw 32 hits and 38 men left on base, the ‘Cats and Nats combined for just 11 hits and four runs in the decisive Game Three. Lynchburg crossed the plate first in the fourth frame. Anthony Santander led off the stanza with a double and advanced to third on a heads-up baserunning play when he tagged on a deep flyout to left. He scored on a sacrifice fly byDorssys Paulino.
The Hillcats scored two more runs in the seventh after Yu-Cheng Chang homered to right field to bring in Bobby Bradley, who reached on a fielding error. The Nationals scored their lone run after two doubles by Osvaldo Abreu and Bryan Mejia in the ninth.
Sean Brady turned in an outstanding pitching performance in the clincher. He struck out seven batters, including five in the first two innings. The lefty limited the Nationals to three singles and a walk in the contest. Leandro Linares earned a hold after he relieved Brady and tossed 1 2/3 perfect innings. Mitch Brown, Billy Strode, and Trevor Frank combined to close out the game.Frank struck out three batters in 1 1/3 frames to earn the save.
Lynchburg advances to its first Mills Cup Championship Series since 2012, its last championship victory… The Hillcats are now 62-62 in all-time postseason play…Lynchburg has hit a home run in 84 of its 143 games this year.
Lynchburg travels to Myrtle Beach to play Game One of the Mills Cup Championship Saturday night at TicketReturn.com Field.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.
Share
Chris Graham
