The Lynchburg Hillcats walked off on the Carolina Mudcats, 7-6, in eleven innings in front of a record-high 5,840 fans at City Stadium on Friday night. It was the second time in three nights the Hillcats have won in walk-off fashion. Matt Weaver singled home David Rohm to score the winning run. Weaver had three RBI in the game. William Beckwith and Robby Hefflinger each contributed home runs in the win.
Lynchburg (22-17) pushed the winning run across on a bloop single into shallow right from Weaver. Rohm singled to lead off the eleventh and Kyle Kubitza singled down the right field line to put runners at the corners. The ‘Cats scored without an out being recorded in the eleventh.
The Hillcats scored three runs in the final two innings of regulation to tie it up. Beckwith’s two-run home run got Lynchburg within one after eight. The Mudcats loaded the bases with no one out in the top of the ninth, but Wilson Rivera was able to get a strikeout and a double play thanks to a diving stop by Kyle Kubitza to get out of the inning unscathed.
Kubitza led off the home half of the ninth with a walk. Matt Weaver tried to sacrifice him into scoring position and the pitcher Enosil Tejeda botched the throw to first, giving the HIllcats tin scoring position with nobody out. Elmer Reyes hit a shallow fly ball to right that was just deep enough to score Kubitza and tie the game. Weaver went to third and Lynchburg had a couple of chances to score the winning run, but he was stranded there.
John Cornely (1-0) pitched two shutout innings in extras to give the Hillcats the chance to win in the eleventh. Grant Sides (2-1) pitched a perfect tenth but failed to get an out in the eleventh as the Hillcats had three straight singles off him.
The Mudcats drew first blood with a first-inning run. Tyler Naquin walked to lead off the game and later scored on an RBI-double by Charlie Valerio.
The Hillcats took their first lead of the night in the second inning. Hefflinger hit a leadoff home run to tie the game. David Rohm followed up with a double, Kyle Kubitza bunted him over and Weaver doubled him in to give Lynchburg a 2-1 lead after two.
After Naquin and Lindor had back-to-back hits in the third to tie the game, the Hillcats jumped back in front in the fourth. Kubitza singled on a liner to right-center and was able to get all the way to third on a two-base error by Naquin in center. Weaver took advantage with an RBI-single, making it 3-2 Hillcats.
The Mudcats scored in each of the next three innings to take the lead for good. Ross hit Yhoxian Medina with a pitch to lead off the fifth before Aaron Siliga and Naquin both singled. Naquin’s single drove in Medina and tied the game. Siliga scored on a double-play ball off the bat of Lindor to make it 4-3 Mudcats.
Ross gave up a run in the sixth before being pulled. He went 5.1 innings and allowed five runs on eight hits while walking four and striking out one. He has gone at least five innings in each of his first three starts since being called up to Lynchburg in early May.
The series continues Saturday with the middle game of this three-game set. It’s the Seventh Annual “Swing For a Cure” Breast Cancer Awareness Night at City Stadium. There will be an auction for game-worn pink jerseys and proceeds will go to the Susan G. Komen Foundation. First pitch is set for 6:05pm with Navery Moore (3-4, 6.15) taking the mound for the Hillcats against Nick Pasquale (0-1, 9.00) for Carolina. If you can’t make it to the ballgame, join Erik Wilson and Jake Levy for all the play-by-play action starting with the Hillcats On-Deck Show, powered by Honda/Suzuki of Lynchburg, at 5:40pmon 97.9 FM The Planet and lynchburg-hillcats.com
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Chris Graham
