Lynchburg rallies late to defeat Columbia, 6-0

The Lynchburg Hillcats used an eighth inning rally to defeat the Columbia Fireflies 6-0 in Thursday night’s contest.

The Hillcats (23-18) were held scoreless for seven full innings before bursting the door open as the Fireflies (12-30) struggled to throw strikes.

It was a pitcher’s duel for most of the game, as Trenton Denholm went toe-to-toe with Luinder Avila for the first half of the ballgame. Denholm would go five innings of one-hit baseball while recording four strikeouts.

The low scoring affair would continue up until the bottom of the eighth, when Lynchburg would finally crack the scoreboard. Luis Durango would lead off the inning with a walk, before swiping second. Yordys Valdes would bloop a double into right in front of a diving River Town as it would sneak by him to allow Durango to score.

Milan Tolentino would single home another run a few batters later before Dayan Frias hit his sixth double of the season with a shot off the right field wall that scored two. A sacrifice fly and a wild pitch later, and the Hillcats would end the eighth with a 6-0 lead.

The score would hold in the ninth as Elvis Jerez would work himself out of trouble to end the ballgame. Thursday night’s game was the first shutout of the season for the Hillcats.

The Fireflies and Hillcats will square off again on Friday night at Bank of the James Stadium. First pitch is scheduled for 6:30.