Neither starter surrendered a run in a pitchers duel tonight between the Lynchburg Hillcats and Myrtle Beach Pelicans. The ‘Cats fell 3-1 with all four runs scoring in the seventh frame. Kellin Deglan delivered the game-winning hit, a three-run homer in the bottom of the seventh off reliever Ryan Woolley. Starter Greg Ross threw the first five innings scoreless, but took a no-decision for the Hillcats.
Ross only allowed two hits in his five innings and walked no one. His first hit was to the leadoff man Luis Sardinas in the first inning. It was fairly routine groundball to shortstop Elmer Reyes, but the urgency wasn’t there and Sardinas beat out the throw. Reyes picked up the tempo from that point on and recorded seven assists the rest of the way. The second hit off Ross was a leadoff double off the wall from Drew Robinson in the fourth inning, but he went stranded at second.
Meanwhile, Alec Asher was a bit more impressive for the Pelicans. He struck out a career-high 11 batters in six scoreless innings. Asher only gave up two hits as well, a pair of singles to Matt Lipka and William Beckwith. After Beckwith’s single to start the fourth, Asher retired his final nine batters in order, striking out eight of them.
The Hillcats were the first to score, plating a run in the top of the seventh inning. David Rohm, WIll Skinner, and Reyes strung together three straight singles with two outs. Reyes’ single was to the third baseman Robinson. He made a diving stop and his late throw to first went high and into the seats. Rohm scored on the error. The ‘Cats led 1-0.
The lead was short-lived. After a perfect sixth inning for Woolley, he returned in the seventh and gave up three straight hits, capped by a three-run homer for Deglan. The Pelicans led 3-1.
Will Lamb entered for Myrtle Beach in the eighth. He sat down the Hillcats in order in the final two innings to earn his first save of the season. The win went to Randol Rojas (3-0), who gave up an unearned run in the seventh inning on three hits.
Wooley (0-1) took the loss. He gave up three earned runs, on three hits in two innings. He walked one and struck out two.
The silver lining for the Hillcats, outside of Ross’ great start, was the defense. They turned in their fourth straight error-free game, their longest streak of the season.
The Hillcats are now 16-13 after the loss, as the Pelicans improved to 18-13, tying them with the Frederick Keys for the best record in the Carolina League.
Game two of the three-game series is set for tomorrow night at 7:05pm in Myrtle Beach. RHP Navery Moore (2-3, 6.53) will start for Lynchburg against RHP NIck Martinez (2-2, 2.60) for the Pelicans. The Hillcats On-Deck Show powered by Honda/Suzuki of Lynchburg will go on the air at 6:40pm. Listen live to all the action with Erik Wilson on 97.9 FM The Planet and online at lynchburg-hillcats.com
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Chris Graham
