Pelicans complete sweep of Hillcats

Lynchburg scored in each of the first four innings, including three in the fourth, but it wasn’t enough to match the Pelicans’ offense on Monday night. The Hillcats dropped their fifth straight by a score of 14-6.

Bradley Zimmer kicked off the scoring with an RBI double in the bottom of the first that brought in Ivan Castillo. Castillo led off the inning with a single to left.

Luigi Rodriguez continued his hot-hitting in Lynchburg, as he tripled to lead off the second and was driven in my James Roberts. Roberts had to use every bit of his reach on a swing that poked the ball into right field, to make it 2-0.

Myrtle Beach answered back with a run in the third. Mark Zagunis led off with a double to centerfield and was later driven in on a groundout by Billy McKinney.

Lynchburg regained its two-run advantage in third, when Paul Hendrix drove in Nellie Rodriguez on a sacrifice fly to right to make it 3-1.

Unfortunately for the Hillcats, the lead wouldn’t hold as the Pelicans scored six runs in the fourth inning to take a 7-3 lead. The big blow came off the bat of Jacob Rogers, who hit a three-run home run to centerfield. Myrtle Beach sent 11 men to the plate in the inning, recorded five hits, and were helped out by an error.

The “Cats fought their way back in the bottom half, scoring three to bring themselves to within a run. With the bases loaded, Zimmer singled to center for his second RBI of the game. Nellie Rodriguez followed with a double-play ball to short that produced a run. With a runner at third and two-out, Eric Haase knocked a single into left to narrow the gap to one, 7-6.

The Pelicans offense wasn’t done with their barrage, as they scored two more in the fifth on RBIs from Zagunis and Wes Darvill to take a 9-6 lead.

After all the excitement, both offenses stayed quiet until the ninth, when Myrtle Beach scored five runs to put the game out of reach. Carlos Penalver collected an RBI single, Darvill had a two-run triple, Billy McKinney tripled to score Darvill, and an error allowed McKinney to score to make it 14-6.

Lynchburg heads to Zebulon, North Carolina on Tuesday for a four-game series in three days against the the Carolina Mudcats. Tuesday night’s contest will begin at 7:00 p.m. Fans can tune into the game on ESPN Radio 93.3 FM and 1320 AM. The Hillcats On-Deck Show begins at 6:40 p.m.