Bats Come to Life as Hillcats Down Augusta

The Lynchburg Hillcats inched slightly closer to the Carolina Mudcats for the first half crown after knocking off the Augusta GreenJackets 7-4 on Saturday evening.

Lynchburg now sits 3.0 games back with four to play before the end of the first half in the Carolina League. After a quiet week at the plate, the Hillcats bats finally came to life behind a 3-RBI day from Christian Knapczyk.

Esteban Gonzalez put Lynchburg on the board in the bottom of the first inning on a sacrifice fly to center field that brought home Ralphy Velazquez. Will Verdung would match it in the top of the third inning to even up the score at one apiece.

In the bottom of the third inning, Knapczyk would drive home the first of his three runs with a single to left that scored Luis Durango. Gonzalez would plate him with a single of his own later in the inning putting Lynchburg up by two.

Knapczyk would strike again in the bottom of the fourth as he would drive home Juan Benjamin on a force out, extending the lead up to three.

In the fifth, Cam Magee would pick up his second double of the season to steal the run back, starting a string of back-and-forth half innings.

Wuilfredo Antunez would steal it back in the bottom of the frame with a single to center that plated Gonzalez. Benjamin would get in on the action after a groundout scored Antunez, bringing the lead to 6-4.

The sixth inning would see two runs swing in favor of Augusa as both Joe Olsavsky and Isaiah Drake would drive home an RBI, bringing the deficit back down to two. However, Knapczyk would put the nail in the coffin with an RBI single in bottom of the sixth to score Durango for the second time.

Deredt Parra would record the elusive three inning save, bouncing back from a rough outing on Tuesday night. Abel Brito would be awarded the victory after coming on in relief of Jackson Humphries.

Lynchburg and Augusta will wrap up their series with a Sunday matinee at 2 p.m. at Bank of the James Stadium.