Another solid pitching performance and a 12-hit day pushed the Hillcats to a series win over the Wilmington Blue Rocks on Sunday afternoon. Dace Kime earned his first victory for Lynchburg and Clint Frazier had a two-run double in the 7-2 win.
Wilmington was on the board first in the second inning taking a 1-0 lead thanks to Dexter Kjerstad. The Blue Rocks hero from Saturday night ripped an RBI triple to give the Blue Rocks a 1-0 lead.
In the bottom of the third, the Hillcats took the lead with three runs and never looked back. Ivan Castillo got things started with a one-out single. Luigi Rodriguez followed with an infield single and with two on, Clint Frazier smashed one to the right field wall and drove them both in for a 2-1 advantage. Nellie Rodriguez extended the lead to two after a Bradley Zimmer single, with a sacrifice fly to center field.
The Blue Rocks surrendered an unearned run in the fifth when Zimmer tried to take third on a single by Nellie Rodriguez. Kjerstad came up throwing and it sailed all the way to the netting in front of the Hillcats dugout, allowing Zimmer to score, making it 4-1 Hillcats. Zimmer finished his day with three hits, all singles, and scored two runs.
Another error came back to haunt the Blue Rocks in the sixth, when James Roberts reached on a ball that Jack Lopez threw away at short. Roberts stole second and then scored on the first Carolina League hit by Juan De La Cruz.
Joe Sever waited until his final at-bat in the seventh to extend his hitting streak to 10. His single drove in two more runners and the Hillcats led 7-1 after seven.
Dace Kime went five innings, allowed three hits and one run with striking out four to earn his first win at the high-A level.
Antonio Romero continued his stellar start to his professional career with two hitless innings in relief of Kime. Ben Heller pitched a perfect eighth inning and Clayton Cook surrendered a run on two hits in the ninth, but finished off a 7-2 win for the Hillcats.
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Chris Graham
