The Lynchburg Hillcats were downed by the Salem Red Sox in the continuation of a suspended game, 2-1, before losing 3-0 in a complete game Sunday at LewisGale Field inside Salem Memorial Ballpark. Play was halted in the fourth inning of Saturday’s series opener due to rain so was continued on Sunday before playing a seven-inning contest. The shutout was the ninth of the season for the Hillcats. Matt Weaver, David Rohm and Daniel Castro had the hits in the full game.
Two home runs sank the Hillcats (69-69, 33-36) in the continuation game. Red Sox (75-64, 42-37) Carson Blair went deep for a solo blast one batter before play was halted Saturday. After an error allowed Levi Hyams to score to tie the game when play resumedSunday in the fifth, David Chester took the first pitch of the bottom of the inning over the left field wall for what would end up as the winning run.
Chasen Shreve (0-1) took the mound when play resumed with two outs in the fourth and got the final out but gave up that second home run to take the loss. Robby Scott (4-4) took over on the mound for the Red Sox and got the win while Matt Price picked up his sixth save of the season.
The full game saw the Hillcats struggles at the plate continue with just two hits in the seven-inning contest. They were shut out for the ninth time this season by the combination of Mike Augliera (9-6), Madison Younginer and Matty Ott , who got his fifth save of the season.
Ryan Hinson (4-4) got the start for Lynchburg and, after two scoreless innings, allowed a pair of runs in the third. He retired the first two in the inning before a hit batter and back-to-back RBI-doubles by Nick Natoli and Henry Ramos put the Red Sox up 2-0.
They would add another run on a Mookie Betts RBI-single in the fourth and Hinson’s game was over after 3.1 innings. Greg Ross, Nate Hyatt and Robert Fish combined to go the rest of the way scoreless but the Hillcats could not erase the early deficit.
The Hillcats have now lost five of their last six and look to salvage the series finale in the final game of the regular season Monday at1:05pm with a Labor Day game at Salem Memorial Ballpark. Ryan Weber (6-4, 3.80) gets the start for Lynchburg while Salem has yet to announce their starter. Erik Wilson and Jake Levy will have the radio play-by-play starting with the Hillcats On-Deck Show, powered by Honda/Suzuki of Lynchburg, at 12:40pm on 97.9 FM The Planet and lynchburg-hillcats.com
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Chris Graham
