Mudcats Outlast Hillcats in 6-5 Marathon Victory

LYNCHBURG, VA - Daniel Brown struck out seven over three innings, both Ryan Aguilar and Joantgel Segovia had three hits, and Luke Barker earned his league leading 15th save as the Mudcats defeated the Hillcats 6-5 in ten innings in a rain plagued, marathon game at City Stadium in Lynchburg on Sunday night.

The Mudcats (50-49, 16-13) outlasted the Hillcats (17-14, 46-52) in a 10 inning game that was delayed at the start because of rain, saw 3 hours and 48 minutes of actual game action and included an overall delay (before and during the game) of 2 hours and 28 minutes.
The game also saw the Mudcats lead only once, but saw them tie it several times including 1-1 in the fourth, 2-2 in the fifth, 3-3 in the sixth and 4-4 in the seventh. Lynchburg answered each of Carolina's one run frames from the fourth through the sixth, but failed to answer in the seventh as Brown (5-4, 3.78) held them scoreless for the first time since the third.
Brown worked out of a bases loaded jam in the seventh while holding the tie at 4-4. He then struck out the side in the eighth and ninth innings while keeping Lynchburg without a run over three full innings. Brown struck out six straight between the eighth and ninth and finished with seven strikeouts against three walks in the victory.
With the game tied at 4-4, the Carolina tenth then began with Aguilar at second, but he would not stay there long as an error from pitcher Dalbert Siri would score Aguilar to break the tie and give Carolina its first lead of the game. The costly Siri (1-5, 3.31) error came on a sacrifice bunt attempt from Pat McInerney and included Siri throwing the bunted ball beyond first and out of play. Aguilar scored and McInerney went to second on the two base error. Devin Hairston then entered in place of McInerney as a pinch runner and would eventually go on to score on a hit to left from Segovia later in the inning.
With Carolina leading 6-4, Barker was then brought in for the last of the tenth and would end up pitching around a run scoring hit from Emmanuel Tapia while earning his Carolina League best 15th save of the year. He ended up with just the one unearned run allowed on one hit in the final frame.
The Hillcats did score first in Sunday's ballgame as they brought across one in the second on a RBI single from Dillon Persinger. His hit scored Trenton Brooks who had earlier started the frame with a lead off double off Carolina's starter Devin Williams.
Williams went on to work through the second and made it into the third, but left with one out and after reaching his pitch limit. Reliever Alec Kenilvort then entered the game, but did so as heavy rainfall began to blanket City Stadium. The rain forced a delay in the third, a delay that began at 6:43 PM and ended at 8:23 PM.
Kenilvort ended up facing just the one batter, and made it as far as eight pitches and a 2-2 count against Brooks before leaving the game. Nathan Kirby eventually entered in place of Kenilvort in the third and went on to retire Brooks on strikes while picking up the second out of the inning. He then finished the third with a flyout from Conner Capel and went on to work through three and 2/3 with three runs and six hits allowed. He also struck out six and walked two.
Carolina first tied the game on a RBI hit from Aguilar in the fourth and later tied it again in the fifth on a bases loaded walk from Cooper Hummel. They then tied it again at 3-3 in the sixth when Dallas Carroll came through with a run scoring hit to bring in McInerney. 
Each of Carolina's game tying hits had been answered by Lynchburg, but that streak came to and end after Carolina got another game tying hit from Aguilar in the seventh. Brown followed that go-ahead frame with a scoreless bottom side and went on to earn the victory.
Aguilar went 3-for-5 with a run and two RBI in the game for the Mudcats. Segovia also had three hits while going 3-for-5 with a RBI and two walks. Hummel scored twice and was 1-for-3 with a RBI.
The Hillcats were led by Clement who went 3-for-5, including a go-ahead RBI single off Kirby in the fourth. They also got a go-ahead RBI double from Li-Jen Chu. Their final run scoring hit came from Mitch Longo as he brought in Clement from second after a double earlier in the inning.
Carolina's marathon victory evened the series at 1-1, with the finale set for Monday night at 6:30 p.m. in Lynchburg. The game will air on the Mudcats Radio Network, the Big Dawg 98.5 FM and via TuneIn Radio at carolinamudcats.com. 
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