Home Wilmington ends Lynchburg Hillcats winning streak
Baseball

Wilmington ends Lynchburg Hillcats winning streak

Chris Graham

lynchburg hillcatsWill Skinner hit his team-leading 10th home run of the season, but the Lynchburg Hillcats snapped their five-game winning streak with a 4-2 loss to the Blue Rocks at Calvin Falwell Field Wednesday night.

Wilmington (52-53) broke a scoreless tie and posted all of the runs it would need with one swing of the bat in the second. After Cam Gallagher, Logan Davis and Terrance Gore loaded the bases with three singles, Jack Lopez cleared the bases with a two-out double to give the Blue Rocks a 3-0 advantage.

Lynchburg (54-55) answered with one run in the bottom half of the frame. Kevin Ahrens, Blake Brown and Joe Odom all walked to fill the bases in front of David Nick. Nick drove in Ahrens with a sacrifice fly to left field to bring the Hillcats within two, 3-1.

Jarett Miller (7-7) recorded his ninth quality start in his last 10 outings but suffered the loss after allowing three runs on nine hits in six innings. Miller struck out eight while only walking one. Jonathan Dziedzic walked a season-high five in his start for Wilmington and did not factor into the decision after only lasting three innings. Luis Santos (3-2) held Lynchburg to one run in five innings of relief, while Kyle Bartsch tossed a perfect ninth for his second save of the year.

Following the second stanza, the score remained 3-1 until a couple home runs concluded the scoring in the final frames. Bubba Starling hit a fly ball well beyond the center field fence in the seventh for his ninth homer of the year. Skinner’s home run cleared the wall in left-center field to give him double-digit homers for the second straight year.

Skinner has 44 RBIs and a team-best 40 extra-base hits this year. Justin Bloxom went 2-for-4 in the game for the only multi-hit effort by a Hillcat. All nine starters for Wilmington had a hit in the contest, including multi-hit games for Gore and Cody Stubbs.

Lynchburg and Wilmington will play for the final time in the regular season Thursday night at 7:05pm. Wes Parsons (4-5, 4.70) is expected to start for the Hillcats. It’s a Theme Thursday at the ballpark with a special appearance by Mountain Man for Duck Dynasty Night presented by Wooldridge Heating, Air and Electrical, Inc. and Star Country. Fans wearing camouflage or a beard will receive $5 admission. Gates open at 6pm. Fans can also tune in at 6:40pm to the Hillcats On-Deck Show presented by Amtrak Virginia on 97.9 The Planet.

Chris Graham

Chris Graham

Chris Graham, the king of "fringe media," a zero-time Virginia Sportswriter of the Year, and a member of zero Halls of Fame, is the founder and editor of Augusta Free Press. A 1994 alum of the University of Virginia, Chris is the author and co-author of seven books, including Poverty of Imagination, a memoir published in 2019. For his commentaries on news, sports and politics, go to his YouTube page, or subscribe to his Street Knowledge podcast. Email Chris at [email protected].

Latest News

randy savage wwe
Wrestling

WWE legend ‘Macho Man’ Randy Savage: ‘I’m not just a man, I’m an institution’

baseball
Baseball

Podcast: O’s in turmoil, Nats in perpetual rebuild, UVA Baseball news and notes

How about a half-hour of baseball talk to start your week off? All apologies to the other ball sports, but baseball is my jam.

pete rose
Baseball

Pete Rose is a Hall of Famer, but not a slam dunk: The case for, and against

I’ll start this column on Pete Rose by saying: Pete Rose is a Baseball Hall of Famer. He’s the Hit King – with 4,256 of them. He played in 1,972 MLB wins, the most of any player all-time. Played in 3,562 games total – also the most of any player all-time. But he wouldn’t have...

Medicaid cuts Trump administration
Government, Local

Waynesboro: City manager concedes it’s no longer ‘business as usual’ under Trump

climate change pollution
Politics

House energy coalition: Trump mega bill sells out future generations, clean energy

washington nationals
Baseball

Analysis: Where the Washington Nationals are at Year 5 of the rebuild

cyber security awareness month
Politics

Warner cautions against DOGE ceasing protection of Americans from cyberattacks