Lynchburg claimed a pair of one-run victories over Frederick Friday night at Nymeo Field at Harry Grove Stadium, holding on for a 2-1 win in the first contest and capping off the doubleheader with a 3-2 win.
Lynchburg plated two unearned runs in the third inning of the initial contest to take a 2-1 lead and maintained that margin the rest of the way.
After Jay Gonzalez doubled and scored in the opening stanza to give Frederick the early lead, Lynchburg finally broke through in the third. Daniel Salters lined a leadoff single to right field and advanced to third when David Armendariz reached on a throwing error by the third baseman Jomar Reyes. That allowed Salters to score on a sacrifice fly by Greg Allen. With the game tied, 1-1, Taylor Murphy singled to bring home Armendariz and give Lynchburg a 2-1 advantage.
Julian Merryweather (8-2) held Frederick to one run and five hits in six innings. He struck out seven to earn his eighth win in only 11 starts. David Speer notched his first save as a Hillcat and the third of his career with a perfect seventh that included two strikeouts.
Lynchburg built an early 3-0 lead in the nightcap thanks to a series of extra-base hits. Paul Hendrix doubled in the second inning and scored two batters later when Sicnarf Loopstok doubled down the left-field line. In the third, Greg Allen singled to lead things off. Anthony Santander homered to left field to push the margin to 3-0. It marked Santander’s first home run when batting from the right side this season and his seventh total of 2016.
Luis Lugo (3-2) cruised through his first five innings in only 65 pitches but ran into trouble in the sixth. Wynston Sawyer walked, and Aderlin Rodriguez tripled to end the shutout. Rodriguez later scored on a double play to cut it to 3-2. Lugo finished the sixth inning with two runs allowed on seven hits for the day. He struck out a pair. Trevor Frank improved to 6-7 in save opportunities by retiring all three he faced in the seventh.
Lynchburg is now a league-best 7-1 in doubleheaders…The Hillcats tied the 2009 team for most first-half wins in the last decade with their 45th win…The ‘Cats have hit a home run in 39 of their 68 games this season (57 percent) and own a 27-12 record when a Hillcat leaves the yard.
Lynchburg plays Frederick Saturday night at 6 p.m. Justus Sheffield (4-3, 3.61) will start for the ‘Cats. Fans can listen to the action on 93.3 FM and 1320 AM as well as www.lynchburg-hillcats.com, beginning with the Hillcats On-Deck Show at 5:45 p.m.
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Chris Graham
