Lynchburg Hillcats blanked by Potomac Nationals, 5-0

Lynchburg had a baserunner in eight of its nine innings at the plate, but only twice had a man reach third base as the Hillcats were shut out for the second time of the season, 5-0, at Pfitzner Stadium Sunday afternoon.

Isaac Ballou and Khayyan Norfork each hit solo homers to headline the Nationals’ offensive attack, while Yhoxian Medinahad two of Lynchburg’s five hits for the game. Bradley Zimmer stole two bases for the Hillcats.

Wander Suero (1-0) only surrendered three hits and a walk in six innings of work to earn the victory. Manny Rodriguez struck out three in two innings of relief, and Brian Dupra struck out one in the ninth to complete the shutout.

Ballou gave the Nationals the lead in the second inning with a solo home run to right field. Potomac added three runs on three hits in the third. After Wilmer Difo drew a one-out walk, Chris Bostick singled. John Wooten hit a sacrifice fly to center to drive in Difo. Spencer Kieboom then singled home Bostick to make it 3-0 in favor of the Nationals. Brandon Miller’s RBI single capped off the scoring of the fourth. Norfork’s home run lead off the eighth inning to finish the scoring for the day.

Lynchburg (2-2) travels to Frederick to continue its seven-game road trip to open the 2015 season. Monday’s game will begin at7 p.m. Southpaw Luis Lugo will start for the Hillcats against Sebastian Vader. The Hillcats On-Deck Show takes the air at 6:40 p.m. on ESPN Radio 93.3 FM and 1320 AM.