Hillcats Drop First Home Stand of Season with Loss to Delmarva

The ‘Cats drop their first series of the season at the Bank of the James Stadium to the Delmarva Shorebirds. On the other hand, the series win for Delmarva is their 1st of the season in total as they take game 6 by a final of 2-1.

Matt Wilkinson was saddled with his 1st loss of the season, but you can’t fault the Canadian southpaw too much, he only allowed 1 run in his 5 innings of work where he struck out 8 and allowed only 3 hits against him. The lone run that was pushed across on his watch was listed in the scorebook as an RBI single. But in reality, it was a perfectly placed bunt down the third base line from Alfredo Romero coupled with a great jump and read from third by Thomas Sosa on the basepaths. Wilkinson would limit the damage there, but surprisingly that would be enough to hold Delmarva out in front up until the 9th inning.

Lynchburg would wait till the bottom of the 9th to finally cash in against Gabriel Salazar. Angel Genao would be driven in on a RBI base hit from Wuilfredo Antunez to put the Hillcats in reach of tying the game. That would be all Salazar would allow however, as a 7th inning solo home run from Aneudis Mordan would be responsible for the winning run that would secure the first series win of the 2024 season for the ‘Birds.

Standout hitters for Lynchburg were hard to come by, but Angel Genao had a decent day at the dish on his 20th birthday. He went 2-4 with a single, a double, and the lone run scored of the game for Lynchburg. Wuilfredo Antunez also drove in a run for the second game in a row, his bat has really turned around dating back to late April and through May.

Fredericksburg lies ahead for Lynchburg as they will take their talents back on the road to take on the best pound for pound offense in the Carolina League in the FredNats, a title the ‘Cats themselves once held a claim to. It is hard to say that after the sparse offensive production we saw in the last 3 games from Lynchburg here in the Hill City. They will play a 6-game series with their Carolina League North Division rivals starting on Tuesday, ending on Sunday.

After that, the Hillcats will return home to Lynchburg to host the Salem Red Sox, game one set for Tuesday, May 28th. Tickets are available at Lynchburg-hillcats.com.