William Beckwith set the tone from the start with a solo homer in the first inning, as the Lynchburg Hillcats marched on to a 10-3 win over the Carolina Mudcats. The Hillcats homered three more times, including one more blast from Beckwith as they snapped a three-game losing streak this week on the road. Four home runs set a new record for an opposing team against the Advanced-A Carolina Mudcats (formerly a Double-A franchise before 2012) in a single game.
Lynchburg led 1-0 after the first inning thanks to Beckwith’s first homer. They added three more runs in the third inning. Elmer Reyes and Matt Lipka successfully converted a double steal, and a throwing error from the catcher allowed Reyes to score and Lipka to get to third base. Emerson Landoni was then hit by a pitch to put runners at first and third. Landoni stole second and another throwing error for the catcher Charlie Valerio allowed Lipka to score. Robby Hefflinger singled home Landoni two batters later and the Hillcats took at 4-0 lead.
Hillcats starter A.J. Holland saw trouble of his own in the bottom of the third inning. An error at shortstop by Reyes let the leadoff man reach. Tyler Naquin and Francisco Lindor followed with singles to load the bases. After a shallow flyout, Jordan Smith singled in two runs. Holland walked the next batter, before Luigi Rodriguez grounded out to first base to bring home another run. The Mudcats cut the Lynchburg lead to 4-3.
The Hillcats did the rest of the scoring, all via the long ball. Reyes hit his first home run of the season in the sixth inning, a two-run shot. Will Skinner added a two-run blast in the eighth inning, his fourth. Finally, Beckwith capped off his night with a moon shot over the right field wall in the ninth. It was his seventh of the season, and another two-run round tripper.
The Hillcats went up 10-3 and John Cornely threw a perfect ninth inning to make that the final score.
Holland (3-1) earned the win tossing 5.2 innings. He gave up three runs, one earned, on eight hits. He walked two and struck out just one. The Hillcats tagged Mudcats starter Jacob Lee for six runs in 5.2 innings. Lee (0-3) took the loss. Reyes’ homer was the knock out punch for Lee on the night.
Lynchburg is now 17-15, snapping a three-game slide. The Mudcats fell to 13-21.
Game two of the series is set for 6:15pm tomorrow night. RHP Jarett Miler (3-0, 2.77) will start for the Hillcats against LHP Elvis Araujo (0-0, 1.93) for Carolina. The Hillcats On-Deck Show powered by Honda/Suzuki of Lynchburg will go on the air at5:50pm. Listen live to Erik Wilson with the call on 97.9 FM The Planet and online at lynchburg-hillcats.com
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Chris Graham
