Lynchburg Hillcats drop 2019 season finale to Dash

The Lynchburg Hillcats dropped the final game of the 2019 season on Monday, falling 3-0 to Winston-Salem.

Lynchburg (62-73, 30-38) caps the campaign with a season-high 11 games below the .500 mark with the loss to the Dash (72-61, 34-35). The Hillcats posted their worst record since the 2011 season, which was the last time the club did not qualify for the playoffs.

Winston-Salem started the scoring in the first.. Steele Walker worked a lead off walk and moved to second base on a balk. Three batters later, Jameson Fisher drilled an RBI single to score Walker and give the Dash a 1-0 edge.

The game stayed that way until the eighth inning. Andrew Vaughn led off the frame with a double and Craig Dedelow singled to put runners at the corners. Fisher came though again with an RBI single to score Vaughn, pushing Winston’s lead to 2-0. Later in the inning, a bunt single from Jonathan Allen plated Dedelow to widen the gap to 3-0, capping the scoring.

The Hillcats had chances in the finale, but went 1-for-8 with runners in scoring position.

Brock Hartson (Loss, 2-3) started for Lynchburg and fired three innings of one-run ball. Felix Tati spun two scoreless innings, Randy Valladares and Dakody Clemmer each tossed a scoreless frame and Yapson Gomez issued two runs in the eighth. Jonathan Teaney worked a clean ninth.

Konnor Pilkington worked three scoreless innings in the start for Winston-Salem. Kevin Escorcia (Win, 2-2), Wyatt Burns, Jacob Lindgren, Jose Nin, Luis Ledo and Andrew Perez each worked a scoreless inning in relief.