The Lynchburg Hillcats and Salem Red Sox split a doubleheader Friday night at LewisGale Field inside Salem Memorial Ballpark. It’s the third time in a week the two clubs have split a double-dip. The Hillcats dropped game one, 4-1, to Salem but responded to win 7-0 in the back end. Ryan Weber gave up four runs early but settled in to retire 12 of the last 13 batters he faced in a complete game effort in game one but the offense couldn’t make up the early deficit. Robby Hefflinger hit two home runs in the second game to spark the offense while Jarett Miller threw 5.2 shutout innings to get the win.
Weber struggled early in game one for the Hillcats (35-31) on the mound. After retiring his first two he gave up three straight hits in the first inning, allow a run to score. Brandon Jacobs doubled home Garen Cecchini to give the Red Sox (31-36) a 1-0 lead.
In the second inning, Weber walked the leadoff man. David Renfroe then collected an RBI-double and Bryan Johns singled home Renfroe. Weber then retired the next three batter to get out of the second inning. He would go on to sit down 15 of his last 17 batters.
He made one more mistake allowing Keury De La Cruz to hit solo homer in the third inning to put the Red Sox up 4-0. After that, Weber retired the next ten hitters he faced and 12 of the last 13 to finish out the ballgame.
Meanwhile, the Hillcats failed to get the offense going until the seventh inning in game one. Kyle Stroup limited the ‘Cats to just two hits through six scoreless innings. In the seventh, Hefflinger doubled to lead off the frame, advanced to third on a wild pitch, and scored on a ground out off the bat of Kyle Kubitza.
Neither bullpen was called upon in game one. Weber (4-2) and Stroup (4-4) were credited with their first complete games on the season.
Elmer Reyes went 0-for-2 in game one, bringing his 15 game hitting streak to an unfortunate end. He was robbed by a back-handed play at third base in his first at-bat, and then sent the left fielder running towards the warning track with a line out in second chance. He was then left in the on-deck circle in the seventh inning.
The Hillcats offense picked up in game two, jump started by Hefflinge once again. He launched a towering blast in the first inning, a two-run shot. The ‘Cats added another run in the third inning. David Rohm, Hefflinger and Kubitza turned in consecutive two-out singles to put the Hillcats up 3-0.
Hefflinger sent another pitch deep into the night sky in the fifth inning, his league-best 18th of the season. That long ball highlighted a four-run fifth inning that also featured a leadoff triple from Reyes and an RBI-triple from Shawn McGill. Reyes scored on a David Rohm groundout before Hefflinger’s blast. It was Rohm’s first RBI since his four-RBI game on Monday.
Hefflinger went 4-for-4 in game two, his second four-hit game of the season and first since April 25 in Winston-Salem.
Miller loaded the bases with two outs in the sixth inning so the Hillcats went to Billy Bullock out of the bullpen. Bullock faced Renfroe, who hit a grand slam against the Hillcats last Sunday, and got him to pop up to right field to end the threat. Bullock finished off the game with a scoreless seventh. It was the first time Salem has been shutout since August of last season.
The Hillcats and Red Sox continue their five-games-in-three-days series on Saturday. Navery Moore (7-4, 4.56) makes his final start of the first half for Lynchburg against Mike Augliera (4-4, 4.73) for the Red Sox. First pitch is set for 6:05pm and you can join Erik Wilson and Jake Levy for the play-by-play starting with the Hillcats On-Deck Show, powered by Honda/Suzuki of Lynchburg, at 5:40pm on 97.9 FM The Planet and lynchburg-hillcats.com.
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Chris Graham
