Lynchburg Hillcats rally, defeat Charleston River Dogs, 5-3

For the second straight night, the Lynchburg Hillcats needed eighth inning heroics to lift them to a 5-3 victory over the Charleston RiverDogs.

The Hillcats (7-11) have now won back-to-back games for the first time in July and have knocked the RiverDogs (8-9) below .500.

Charleston struck first in the second inning when Bobby Seymour scored on a Logan Allen sacrifice fly to center field. In the fourth, the RiverDogs would strike again when Julio Meza dropped a perfectly placed bloop single into right field to score Willy Vasquez.

From there, the Hillcats pitching staff, featuring Juan Zapata, Damon Casetta-Stubbs, and Tyler Thornton, would hold the RiverDogs scoreless until the ninth when Elvis Jerez would surrender a run to cut the lead.

In the fifth, Luis Durango would provide a spark for the Hillcats on a line drive that got past the dive of the left fielder. Durango would turn on the jets and cruise into third for a triple. The next batter, Jake Fox, would bring him home on a ground out to first.

In the sixth, the Hillcats had an opportunity to take the lead, but ended up only tying the ballgame. Lynchburg had the bases loaded but could only bring across one run on a Dayan Frias fielder’s choice double play.

However, in the eighth inning, Frias would have the opportunity to redeem himself. With runners on second and third, Frias would smash a line drive to right field that sailed over the wall for his second home run of the season. That home run gave the Hillcats their first lead on the night with the three-run blast.

In the ninth, Jerez would allow the go-ahead run to come to the plate but forced a line drive right at Frias to end the ballgame.

With the victory, the Hillcats now lead the all-time series 2-1. Lynchburg and Charleston will square off again on Friday night at 6:30 p.m. at Bank of the James Stadium.