UVA alum Whit Mayberry retired 19 of the first 20 batters he faced, but an Anthony Santander bunt single in the seventh initiated a sequence where four straight Hillcats reached and three scored to help Lynchburg erase a 2-0 deficit and win 3-2 at Pfitzner Stadium Thursday night.
Lynchburg’s offense failed to gain any traction in the first six innings, only notching one baserunner during that entire time. After Whit Mayberry sat down the first 14 batters against him, Taylor Murphy finally broke up the perfect game with two outs in the fifth on a single to center field. Meanwhile, an RBI double by Osvaldo Abreu plated the first Nationals run in the third. Abreudoubled again in the sixth and came home on a base hit by Max Schrock to give Potomac a 2-0 advantage.
After the leadoff man was retired in the top of the seventh, Anthony Santander bunted down the third-base line to beat the infield shift for the second Hillcats hit of the game. Bobby Bradley singled to right, and Dorssys Paulino put Lynchburg on the board with an RBI double to left. Bradley came home on a wild pitch to tie the game, 2-2. Alex Monsalve drove in Paulino with a sacrifice fly to center field, and the Hillcats led for the remainder of the contest, 3-2.
Making his second start as a Hillcat, Brock Hartson limited Potomac to two runs on five hits in six innings. He struck out three and walked two. Hartson retired eight consecutive batters from the end of the third into the sixth inning to keep the game with striking distance. The right-hander earned his first win at the Advanced-A level.
David Speer shut out Potomac for 2 2/3 innings and struck out three men after entering in the seventh. With two outs and the bases empty in the ninth, Trevor Frank came in. He allowed a single and a walk but ended the game with a groundout to third for his 13th save in 14 opportunities.
Lynchburg pulled within three games of Potomac in the second-half Northern Division standings…If the Hillcats win both halves, they will host all three potential first-round playoff games…Lynchburg improved to a league-best 37-22 (.627) on the road.
Lynchburg returns home to host Winston-Salem for a three-game series, starting with a Friday night contest at 6:30 p.m. Sean Brady (11-4, 4.39) will start for the Hillcats against righty Jordan Stephens (5-8, 3.66). Fans can listen to the action on 93.3 FM and 1320 AM as well as www.lynchburg-hillcats.com, beginning with the Hillcats On-Deck Show at 6:15 p.m.
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Chris Graham
