The Hillcats offense exploded for nine runs against the Kinston Indians Tuesday night. However, the story of the night was Gary Moran, who pitched eight shutout innings and only allowed one hit in the 9-0 win.
For the first time in the homestand, the Hillcats scored first. Todd Cunningham led off with a walk. After Andrelton Simmons flew out to center, Cunningham stole second with Phil Gosselin at the plate. Gosselin rewarded the steal with a single, scoring Cunningham from second. Joey Terdoslavich followed with his 46th double of the season, scoring Gosselin. The hit gave him the record for most doubles in a season by a Lynchburg baseball player, topping Scott Cooper in 1988. Terdoslavich scored as well when Joe Leonard followed with a single, putting the Hillcats up 3-0.
They tacked on two more in the bottom of the second. With two outs and Cunningham on second base, Gosselin lifted a long fly ball that cleared the wall in left-center for his sixth home run of the year, and extended the lead to 5-0.
Gosselin picked up his fourth RBI of the game in the fourth inning. With runners on the corners and one out, Gosselin hit a slow grounder to first. Jesus Aguilar at first made the play, but L.V. Ware came in to score, and the Hillcats led 6-0.
The final blow for the Hillcats came from Ware. With two outs and two on, Ware hit a bomb to left field that for a three-run home run, his seventh of the season. It was his first home run that scored more than two runs this season, and gave the Hillcats a 9-0 lead.
While the offense was lighting up the board, Gary Moran was having a fantastic start in his second game with the Hillcats. Moran pitched eight shutout innings, striking out eight batters, including seven of nine at one point. He carried a no-hitter into the seventh inning, when a two out single by Jeremie Tice just bounced off the glove of a diving Andrelton Simmons at short. Moran (1-0) earned his first win in the Carolina League after being called up from Low-A Rome last week.
T.J. House took the loss for the Indians. House (6-10) pitched five innings, giving up nine runs on nine hits, and walking six batters.
The Hillcats won their sixth game out of the last seven, and are now 19-25 in the second half. Kinston fell to 22-21.
Lynchburg wraps up their six-game homestand Wednesday night against Kinston. Righty David Hale (3-4) will pitch for the Hillcats and he’ll face Indians lefty Mike Rayl (0-1). First pitch is at 7:05 pm and the gates will open at 6.
The Hillcats On-Deck Show presented by Honda/Suzuki of Lynchburg will go on the air at 6:40 pm. Tune in to 105.5 KD Country or go to lynchburg-hillcats.com to listen live to all the action.
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Chris Graham
