Lynchburg, VA - In a wild, back-and-forth affair between two teams vying for the final playoff spot in the Northern Division, the Wilmington Blue Rocks (64-69/33-30) rallied from a four-run deficit, held a lead, but ultimately fell 10-7 to the Lynchburg Hillcats (67-63/38-25) Tuesday night at Calvin Falwell Field. Emmanuel
Lynchburg, VA - In a wild, back-and-forth affair between two teams vying for the final playoff spot in the Northern Division, the Wilmington Blue Rocks (64-69/33-30) rallied from a four-run deficit, held a lead, but ultimately fell 10-7 to the Lynchburg Hillcats (67-63/38-25) Tuesday night at Calvin Falwell Field. Emmanuel Rivera and D.J. Burt each hit two-run home runs in the game for the Blue Rocks. With the loss, the Blue Rocks trail the Hillcats by five games with seven to play for the top spot in the Northern Division.
With the Blue Rocks leading 7-5, Lynchburg plated four runs and sent nine men to the plate in the sixth inning to retake the lead. The frame was highlighted by a solo home run from Emmanuel Tapia and run-scoring singles from Anthony Miller and Austen Wade to make it a 9-7 ball game. Wilmington had opportunities to try and tie the game in the final two innings of the game. The best chance was in the penultimate inning, when the Blue Rocks put runners at second and third with one out. However, back-to-back strikeouts ended the threat and the inning. Lynchburg added an insurance run on in the ninth on one of five Wilmington's errors to make it a 10-7 contest. The rallying Rocks tried to comeback in the ninth and put runners at first and second before Jackson Lueck struck out to end the game.
The Hillcats staked a 4-0 lead in the first inning as they sent eight men to the plate and smacked four doubles in the inning against Wilmington's starter Andres Sotillet to put the Blue Rocks in an early hole. However, Wilmington chipped away at the deficit with a pair of runs in the second inning when Angelo Castellano drove in a run on a fielder's choice before Blake Perkins lined an RBI single to make it a 4-2 ballgame. In the bottom of the inning, Lynchburg scored a run on a pair of errors by the Blue Rocks to give the Hillcats a 5-3 lead.
The Blue Rocks inched closer thanks to a two-run home run by Emmanuel Rivera in the third inning, one of his three hits on the night, to pull the Rocks within a run. In the top of the fourth, Perkins reached on a one-out single before D.J. Burt hit a two run home run down the left field line to give the Rocks their first lead of the game, 6-5. Wilmington added another score in the fifth on an RBI double from Vance Vizcaino to push the Rocks' lead to 7-5 before the Hillcats mounted their comeback.
The Blue Rocks and Hillcats will play the third game of the series on Wednesday, August 29 at Calvin Falwell Field. Righty Ofreidy Gomez (5-10, 3.61ERA) makes the start for Wilmington while lefty Kirk McCarty (1-1, 1.80 ERA) starts for Lynchburg. Fans can catch all the action as Cory Nidoh has the call on 89.7 WGLS-FM.
PEBBLES OF KNOWLEDGE:
The Blue Rocks stole four more bases in Tuesday's loss, giving the team 175 total stolen bases in 133 games this season. In the second half, the Rocks have swiped 98 in 63 contests. Blake Perkins (29), Travis Jones (16), Angelo Castellano (10) and D.J. Burt (31) all stole a base for the Blue Rocks. Wilmington now has five different players to steal 10-plus bases this season.
Despite scoring seven runs Tuesday, the Blue Rocks went 1-for-13 with runners in scoring position and left 11 men on base. Through the first two games of the series, Wilmington is a combined 2-for-26 with runners in scoring position and have left 18 men on base.
Emmanuel Rivera turned in a three hit night Tuesday and is 14-for-his-last-30, good for a .467 batting average. During that stretch, he has five doubles, a triple, a home run and has driven in six runs. The third baseman has six home runs on the season, matching Meibrys Viloria for second most on the team. D.J. Burt hit his third home run of the season as well on Tuesday, surpassing his season total of last year.
www.bluerocks.com
