Mudcats defeat Hillcats in Sunday finale, 6-3

The Lynchburg Hillcats dropped the final game of the series against the Carolina Mudcats by a score of 6-3.

The Hillcats (28-22) scratched and clawed their way back into the ballgame after falling behind early, but the Mudcats (28-23) came alive in the final two innings to put the game out of reach.

Carolina started the scoring in the first inning as Jackson Chourio sent his third home run of the week over the left field wall for a home run. At the start of the second, Jake Miller was pulled from the ballgame and Braunny Muñoz gave up a home run on the first pitch to Eduardo Garcia.

The Hillcats would get one back in the third inning as Jorge Burgos would single to center to score Yordys Valdes. But the Mudcats would get that run right back after Hedbert Perez hit a sacrifice fly to right field to score Chourio.

In the bottom half of the inning, Junior Sanquintin would lead off with his first home run of the season to cut the lead in half. Later in the fourth, Yordys Valdes would hit a single off the second base bag to score Will Bartlett and tie the game.

The game would remain tied up until the top of the eighth when Chourio would pick up another RBI on a line drive single to score Jheremy Vargas and Luis Silva. Then in the ninth, Oswal Leones would double off the wall in right to tack on another run, extending the lead to three.

The Hillcats would bring the tying runner to the plate in the ninth, but just could not scratch a run across as they drop the Sunday afternoon contest.

The Hillcats remain a half-game up in first place in the Carolina League North Division as they will travel up to Fredericksburg to take on the Nationals. That six-game series will begin on Tuesday at 7:05 p.m.