Lynchburg wins 6-1 to close out first half

Matt Weaver powered the Hillcats offense today with his first multi-home run game as a pro. On the defensive side, Dimasther Delgado went seven strong innings and allowed just one earned run in the 6-1 Hillcats’ victory to close out the first half.

It was a quiet start to the beginning of the day as both Dimasther Delgado and Trent Howard held the opposing offenses hitless through two. However, the Hillcats would strike first when Matt Weaver hit a laser over the fence for his fifth homer of the season to give the ‘Cats 1-0 lead in the top of the third.

Lynchburg would add to their lead just an inning later. Again the leadoff man was the catalyst, this time Tommy La Stella got the offense started with stand-up triple. It was a ball that was hit to deep center, center fielder, Johnny Ruettiger, got turned around, the ball dropped and skipped to the wall. The Hillcats had to wait two batters before Edward Salcedo hit a grounder to Garabez Rosa. It was a low throw to first and it went by first baseman, Mike Flacco. La Stella scored to make it 2-0.The error would prove costly for the Keys, David Rohm got a hit to move Salcedo to second. Then, Weaver came up and blasted a Howard pitch over the right field wall to the blow lead open. The Hillcats ended the four with a 5-0 lead.

Errors again hurt the Keys in the top of the seventh inning. With David Walters on the mound, Emerson Landoni reached on third baseman Michael Mosby’s error. Then, Matt Lipka would single and Landoni took third. Mycal Jones would get his second RBI via a bunt single for the second time this week. The ‘Cats now had a 6-0 lead.

Delgado cruised through six, allowing just two hits. The bottom of the seventh did produce a hiccup for the lefty. With one out in the inning, Mike Flacco drilled a ball out to left-center field to get the Keys on the board. The solo shot was Flacco’s fifth of the year. The score was 6-1 through seven innings, but that would be the only blemish in Delgado’s day.

From there, each offense put zeros on the board to end the game, and the first half, with a 6-2 finale.

Delgado (5-2) got the win for seven strong innings. He allowed just three hits, walked one and struck out two. The only run allowed was the Flacco solo home run. Wilson (1-4) took the loss. He allowed five runs—one earned—on five hits. Wilson walked one and struck out two, but allowed two homers to Weaver.