After Salem tied the game on two different occasions, Claudio Bautista gave Lynchburg the lead for good with a three-run homer in the seventh inning, breaking a 7-7 tie and sending the Hillcats on their way to a 13-7 victory at Haley Toyota Field Tuesday night. Martin Cervenka had homered earlier in the contest as part of a season-high 13 runs and 16 hits by the Hillcats offense.
Lynchburg built an initial 5-0 margin by the middle of the second inning with a run in the first and four in the second. Sam Haggerty smacked the first pitch of the game into right field. He stole second base and advanced to third on a Sicnarf Loopstoksingle. Cervenka brought him home with a sacrifice fly to center field.
The Hillcats added four in the second inning, Jodd Carter and Yonathan Mendoza had back-to-back one-out singles, and a Willi Castro groundout plated Carter to make it 2-0. Haggerty doubled to drive in Mendoza, and Andrew Calica singled to center to pick up an RBI with Haggerty touching home. Calica scored on a throwing error on the play, giving Lynchburg a 5-0 lead.
Salem scored three in the bottom of the second. The Hillcats answered with a Haggerty two-out triple in the fourth, which set up another RBI opportunity for Calica. The outfielder, who came into the game with two RBIs, converted again with a two-out single to center.
Trailing 6-3, Salem tied the game with three runs in the bottom of the fourth, including a pair of unearned runs in the frame.Cervenka reclaimed the lead for the Hillcats with a solo home run to lead off the fifth inning. It marked his second home run of the year and gave him a team-high 10 RBIs for the season. However, Salem evened the scored once again in the home half. It remained 7-all until the seventh.
Ka’ai Tom singled to open the seventh, and Connor Marabell singled two batters later. Facing a new reliever, Claudio Bautistadrilled the first pitch he saw over the scoreboard in left field to push Lynchburg back on top, 10-7. Castro doubled to left field later as part of three more runs the Hillcats piled on in the seventh. Lynchburg used the six-run stanza to hold a 13-7 advantage the rest of the way.
All 10 Hillcats that had an at-bat in the game registered a base hit. Haggerty finished 3-4 and became the first Hillcat to score four runs in a game this year. Calica went 3-5 and posted a season-high three RBIs, all of which came with two outs. Lynchburg batted 7-10 with runners in scoring position.
Justin Garcia (1-0) earned the win with 2 1/3 innings out of the bullpen in which he held Salem to one run on three hits.
Lynchburg will face Salem in a rubber match Thursday night at 7:05 p.m. Jared Robinson (1-2, 4.26) will start for the Hillcats against Travis Lakins (3-0, 3.38). Fans can listen to the game live at www.lynchburg-hillcats.com beginning at 7 p.m.
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