Santander hits fourth homer in four days in 7-2 Lynchburg win

Anthony Santander drove a ball over the left-field fence in the sixth inning for his fourth home run in his last four games to help Lynchburg claim a 7-2 win at Frawley Stadium Sunday evening. The Hillcats logged 12 hits to reach double digits in that column for the sixth straight game.

Santander tied his career high with four hits in the game, including a two-run homer on a 4-5 day that featured two RBIs and two runs scored. He has hit safely in 22 of his last 24 games and has 28 RBIs during that stretch to pass Bobby Bradley for the league lead with 68 for the season. Santander and Mathias each scored in the first inning, while Yu-Cheng Chang and Francisco Mejia picked up the RBIs to stake Lynchburg to an early 2-0 lead.

Mejia’s RBI came on a base hit up the middle to extend his hitting streak to 36 in a row. Lynchburg tallied another run in the second inning when Luigi Rodriguez singled and scored on a Mathias double to build a 3-0 edge.

The Hillcats plated two more in the fifth on a two-run double by Mejia that brought home Bradley and Chang. Santander’shomer capped off the Lynchburg scoring in the sixth. The ‘Cats increased their league leading batting average to .270 and now have a league-best 84 home runs through 92 games.

Anderson Polanco (4-2) earned his first win since June 15 by holding Wilmington to one run on three hits in five innings. The lefty struck out four, although he surrendered a season-high five walks. Justin Garcia tossed two scoreless innings in relief, andTrevor Frank pitched a perfect ninth inning to highlight the bullpen’s efforts.

Lynchburg has hit 55 of its 84 home runs on the road despite playing the same number of home and away games this season (46)…Santander had two home runs batting right-handed all season before this series and now has two in the past two days…The Hillcats have at least 12 hits in eight of their last 11 games…Mejia went 2-5 with three RBIs and has 16 multi-hit games during his 36-game streak.

Lynchburg plays Wilmington Monday at 6:35 p.m. Luis Lugo (5-3, 4.3) will start for the ‘Cats against fellow southpaw Foster Griffin (2-5, 6.20). 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.