The Lynchburg Hillcats couldn’t score after the first inning in a 4-2 loss to the Potomac Nationals in Sunday’s rubber match at City Stadium. David Rohm had a pair of hits, scored and drove in a run for the Hillcats. A.J. Holland went six innings in a losing effort. The Hillcats have now lost two games in a row and two consecutive series.
For the second-straight game the Hillcats (25-22) fell behind in the first inning. Francisco Soriano led off the ballgame with a triple and came in to score on a single by Cutter Dykstra. The Nationals (25-23) then loaded the bases with one out but Holland was able to get a strikeout and groundout to end the inning.
The Hillcats didn’t waste any time responding, putting up a pair of runs in the home half of the first. Matt Lipka led off the inning with a walk and Ross Heffley sacrificed him to second. David Rohm followed up with a single that plated Lipka and tied the game. After a Robby Hefflinger single, Will Skinner bounced into a fielder’s choice that scored Rohm and gave the Hillcats a 2-1 lead after one.
The Nationals tied the game in the fourth. Two singles put runners at the corners with one out for J.R. Higley, who laid down the safety squeeze to score Kevin Keyes and tie the game at 2-2.
Two hit batters did in Holland in the fifth inning. He plunked back-to-back hitters with one out in the inning and Keyes hit a line drive double into the left field corner to score both.
Holland (3-3) went six innings, giving up four runs on six hits with a walk, two hit batters and four strikeouts. It was his second-straight loss although he did go six innings for the third consecutive outing.
Nationals’ starter Robbie Ray went four innings and gave up two runs on five hits with a couple of walks and three strikeouts. Colin Bates (1-3) came on in relief and threw three perfect innings that included four strikeouts.
The Hillcats welcome the Myrtle Beach Pelicans for a four-game set starting with a special5:05pm start time for Memorial Day on Monday. Gates open at 4pm and the first 500 fans will get a special edition baseball, courtesy of Foster Fuels Inc. and WLNI. There are also dollar food items for purchase, presented by ABC 13, including burgers, snacks and more. Ryan Weber (2-1, 3.12) gets the start for the Hillcats against Luke Jackson (4-3, 2.61) for the Pelicans. If you can’t make it to the game, join Erik Wilson and Jake Levy for all the play-by-play action beginning with the Hillcats On-Deck Show, powered by Honda/Suzuki of Lynchburg, going live at 4:40pm on 97.9 FM The Planet and lynchburg-hillcats.com.
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Chris Graham
