Lynchburg Hillcats edge Wilmington, 5-4

The Lynchburg Hillcats (15-19) fended off another Blue Rocks (15-19) comeback effort today as Kevin Ahrens broke a 4-4 tie in the seventh inning with an RBI single leading the Hillcats to a 5-4 win in Wilmington. Ahrens finished the afternoon 3-for-5 with two RBIs, his second three-hit game of the season.

Daniel Castro drove in the game’s first run in the second inning with an RBI single to shallow left-center field. The offense continued to put up runs in the third. David Nick and Ahrens delivered back-to-back RBI singles. Jose Peraza then added his own RBI single in the fourth, giving the Hillcats a 4-0 lead.

Hillcats starter Wes Parsons gave up his first run of the afternoon in the fourth. He hit two consecutive batters Zane Evans and Johermyn Chavez. Two batters later Mark Donato doubled bringing Evans home.

The Blue Rock scored another run in th fifth and then tied the score in the sixth. Mike Antonio, in his Advanced-A debut, hit a two-run home run to right-center field to even the score 4-4. Parsons (2-1) finished the sixth inning allowing four earned runs on six hits. He walked one, hit two batters, and struck out a season-best nine.

Ahrens drove in the go-ahead run in the seventh inning putting Parsons back in line for the win. Benino Pruneda pitched the seventh and eighth innings scoreless. then, Zach Jadofsky earned his first Advnaced-A save with a perfect ninth inning.