Lynchburg Hillcats close out first half with W

Lynchburg had a single tally in four its first five innings on offense to build a 4-1 lead before rain forced an hour and 13-minute delay in the sixth inning at City Stadium Wednesday. Once play resumed, the Hillcats held on for a 4-2 win.

Lynchburg used four different single-run frames to build its initial lead before the rain delay. Taylor Murphy scored as the very first batter for the Hillcats when he tripled down the right-field line and advanced the final 90 feet on a throwing error by the second baseman.

The ‘Cats added another in the second when Daniel Salters doubled and eventually came home on a bases-loaded walk toMurphy. After going down in order in the third, Lynchburg notched a run in the fourth. Mark Mathias singled, stole second base, and scored two batters later on an RBI single by David Armendariz. After a Carolina run in the fifth cut it to 3-1, Lynchburg answered in the home half. Claudio Bautista opened with a single, moved to second on an Anthony Santander base hit, and advanced to third on a fielder’s choice. An ensuing fielder’s choice off the bat of Yu-Cheng Chang pushed Bautista across and made it 4-1. Carolina plated a run in the eighth to make the final margin 4-2.

After making six appearances at Double-A Akron, Anderson Polanco (3-1) returned to Lynchburg and overpowered Carolina for six innings. The lefty only surrendered one run on four hits. He struck out four while walking two and lowering his ERA to 1.88 in seven outings with the Hillcats.

Matt Whitehouse earned a hold out of the bullpen despite giving up his first run at the Advanced-A level in six contests. Jordan Milbrath entered with the potential tying run on base in the eighth inning, but he struck out Tanner Murphy to end the threat. He remained in the game to pitch a scoreless ninth and earn his third save of the season.

Mark Mathias reached base in all four plate appearances, going 2-2 officially with a double, stolen base and run scored…The two teams combined to go for 2-20 with runners in scoring position and left a total of 16 men on base.

Lynchburg begins its final road trip of the first half Thursday night at Frederick at 7 p.m. Julian Merryweather (7-2, 0.98) will start the opening contest of the four-game series. 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 at 6:45 p.m.