Carolina Wins Series As Hillcats Slide Continues
Another frustrating night for the Lynchburg Hillcats would go in favor of the Carolina Mudcats as they fell by a score of 9-5 on Friday evening. The Hillcats did not pick up their first hit until the fifth inning but were trailing 4-1 at that point. With the win, the
Another frustrating night for the Lynchburg Hillcats would go in favor of the Carolina Mudcats as they fell by a score of 9-5 on Friday evening.
The Hillcats did not pick up their first hit until the fifth inning but were trailing 4-1 at that point. With the win, the Mudcats secured the series victory, and will look for the sweep on Saturday and Sunday.
For the fourth straight game, Carolina would open the scoring with a Filippo Di Turi sacrifice fly to put the Mudcats up 1-0 in the third. Lynchburg would knot things up in the bottom of the fourth after Fran Alduey would bring home Ryan Cesirini on a fielder’s choice.
A comedy of errors in the fifth inning would put the Hillcats behind yet again. The first two runners would reach on errors and both would score on a Jose Acosta single and a balk from Kyle Scott. Di Turi would deliver his second sacrifice fly of the night, pushing the score to 4-1.
Lynchburg would get a run back in the bottom of the fifth inning after picking up their first two hits of the night. Garrett Howe would reach on a single and be brought home later in the frame on a gap plugging triple, cutting the deficit to two.
However, the momentum swing would not last long as the wheels would fall off. With the bases loaded in the sixth, Carolina would clear them all on a single from Jose Acosta that rolled under the glove of Luis Merejo, resulting in the hitter ending up on third. Blayberg Diaz and Jose Acosta would each score later in the inning, putting the Mudcats up 9-2.
The Hillcats would make a charge in the eighth inning as Luis Merejo would drive home two runs with a single. Manuel Mejias, pinch-hitting for Juan Benjamin, would plate a third on his infield single. Lynchburg would leave the bases loaded trailing by four.
The Mudcats would bring in their starting first baseman, Miguel Briceno, to pitch the ninth inning. Despite hitting a batter, he would work one-two-three through the frame, ending the Hillcats night.
Lynchburg and Carolina will square off again on Saturday night at 6:30 p.m. at Bank of the James Stadium.