Lynchburg Hillcats take sole possession of first place with W

The Lynchburg Hillcats moved into sole possession of the Carolina League second-half Northern Division wild card playoff spot with a 3-2 win over the Winston-Salem Dash Monday night at City Stadium.  For the second straight night the Hillcats scored two unearned runs in a one-run win.  David Rohm had three hits and scored the winning run in the game. Ryan Hinson was again dominant in his start for the Hillcats despite taking a no decision.

After starting the night 3-for-3, Rohm worked a two-out walk in a tie game in the eighth inning.  He stole second base then scored when Joey DeMichele airmailed a throw to first after a ground ball that would have ended the inning.  It was the third error committed by Winston-Salem (23-26, 61-58) in the game and second by DeMichele.

Hinson made it six straight quality starts to begin his career in the Atlanta Braves organization with a six-inning, one-run effort for the Hillcats (20-26, 56-59) Monday.  He allowed six hits and a pair of walks while striking out six batters, which included him striking out the side in the third to strand the bases loaded.  He took a no decision, exiting with the game tied at 1-1 after six frames.

The Dash took advantage of Hinson’s departure; snapping the tie with a run in the very next inning.  Carlos Perez came out of the pen and walked Martin Medina on four pitches before leaving with an apparent injury.  Brandon Cunniff (1-0) was called on in a pinch and, after a sacrifice bunt, allowed an RBI-double by Joey DeMichele to put Winston-Salem up 2-1.

The Hillcats tied the game when Danny Castro picked up his first hit as a Hillcat, a double down the left field line, to plate Elmer Reyes.  Reyes led off the inning with an infield single and advanced to second on a ground out by Trent Moses before scoring on the double.

That run snapped a five-inning scoreless streak.  The teams traded runs in the first when the Dash scored on a sacrifice fly in the op half before an infield single and error allowed the ‘Cats to tie it in the home half.

Robert Fish allowed a leadoff single in the ninth but retired the next three to secure his second save of the season.  Joseph Dvorsky (1-2) gave up the deciding run in the eighth inning to take the loss for Winston-Salem.

The season-series finale is set for 7:05pm on Tuesday night at City Stadium.  Gates open at 6pm and general admission tickets are just $4, courtesy of ABC 13.  A.J. Holland (4-8, 4.79) gets the start for Lynchburg against Braulio Ortiz (0-1, 7.43) for the Dash.  Erik Wilson and Jake Levy have the broadcast starting with the Hillcats On-Deck Show, powered by Honda/Suzuki of Lynchburg, at 6:40pm on 97.9 FM The Planet and lynchburg-hillcats.com