Jorge Burgos sends the fans home happy with a walk-off RBI single in the bottom of the ninth to give the Lynchburg Hillcats a 4-3 victory over the Delmarva Shorebirds.
Lynchburg (2-5) had to climb back in the final two frames to pull out the win from Delmarva (3-4). The Hillcats had big performances from Reny Artiles, who went four full innings, recording four strikeouts and only allowing a run, and Hugo Villalobos who pitched the ninth frame and struck out the last batter he faced.
The Hillcats got the party in the second when Will Bartlett scored on a Joe Donovan double to right field. Bartlett had reached base on an error by the first baseman who missed the bag on the force out.
The Shorebirds would strike back in the third with two runs of their own after Noelberth Romero reached on an error and Ryan Higgins was hit by a pitch. They both would score on a Davis Tavarez bases clearing double.
The score would hold until the seventh when Bryan Hernandez would hit a solo home run to deep right center to give the Shorebirds a 3-1 lead.
The Hillcats would get a run back in the eight as Jorge Burgos would come around to score after an error. He was driven in on a Will Bartlett double down the third base line. Richard Paz was thrown out trying to score on the play and the game remained in favor of Delmarva.
Hugo Villalobos allowed the first runner to reach base in the ninth but then got the next three batters out, including a big strikeout of Luis Valdez to end the inning.
In the bottom of the ninth, Skeiling Rodriguez would reach base on a walk. With the leadoff runner aboard, Coach Santos made the decision to bring in Isaiah Greene to run. The next two batters would record outs, before Jake Fox reached on a walk.
Milan Tolentino would single to tie the game bringing up Jorge Burgos. Burgos was 0-4 on the night, having only reached base on an error in the eighth.
Burgos was first pitched swinging and drove the ball up the middle for a base hit that would score Jake Fox. From there, the celebration was on at first base.
The Hillcats would rack up 12 strikeouts in the ball game, finishing with a 4-3 victory.
The Hillcats will be back in action on Saturday at 6:30 for game five of the series against Delmarva.
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Chris Graham
