Lynchburg Hillcats win series opener with Carolina Mudcats, 4-2

A big two-out hit from Dayan Frias in the eighth inning carried the Lynchburg Hillcats to a 4-2 victory over the Carolina Mudcats on Tuesday evening.

The Hillcats (25-20) scored two-runs in the eighth to take the lead over the Mudcats (26-20), setting up a battle for first place in the Carolina League North Division tomorrow evening.

The Hillcats struck first as Jake Fox would single in the first inning and then come around to score on a Milan Tolentino sacrifice fly to give Lynchburg the early lead. However, that would be the only run they would score until later in the ballgame.

In the third, Carolina tied the ballgame after a double by Jheremy Vargas and a single by Arbert Cipion would even things up. That same duo would combine to give the Mudcats the lead in the sixth, leading to their only two runs of the night.

In the bottom of the sixth, the Hillcats would work the bases loaded but could only score one. Jake Fox would be walked home with the bases loaded to tie the ballgame at two. The Hillcats would continue to threaten, but an impressive snap-throw from the Mudcats catcher would retire Jorge Burgos at third.

The score would remain tied until the bottom of the eighth, when Dayan Frias would deliver the biggest hit of his career. With two away, Victor Planchart would single to keep the inning alive allowing Frias to step to the dish. He would drive a triple off the right field wall to score the go-ahead run, jolting the Hillcats to the lead.

He would score one batter later as Richard Paz would single to center to extend the Hillcats lead to two.

In the ninth, Lynchburg received an excellent inning of work from Elvis Jerez as he struck out two on his way to his fourth save of the season.

The Hillcats also received an excellent outing from Jack Leftwich, who started tonight’s ballgame. He would go five innings, allowing one run, with ten strikeouts in his first pro start.

Lynchburg will be back in action tomorrow night as they will play host to the Mudcats for a battle of first place at Bank of the James Stadium. First pitch is slated for 6:30.