Northcraft No-Hits Sox in Hillcats Sweep

Lynchburg, VA (June 22, 2012) - After Lynchburg came from behind to win the opening contest on a walk-off suicide squeeze, Hillcats righthander Aaron Northcraft dominated the nightcap at City Stadium, dealing the first individual no-hitter in the Carolina League this season. The Hillcats swept the Salem Sox with a 4-3, 11-inning triumph in the opener and a 3-0 shutout in game two behind the mastery of Northcraft, who struck out ten and walked two while hitting one batter. When Michael Almzanzar grounded to second to complete the no-no, Northcraft was mobbed to the first base side of the mound by his teammates, who celebrated Lynchburg's first no-hitter since 1995.

Salem let two leads slip away in the opening contest, surging in front 2-0 and 3-2 before falling 4-3 in 11. Brandon Jacobs belted his fifth homer of the season, a solo shot that broke a two-all tie in the sixth, but the Hillcats countered with the game-tying run in the last of the seventh against Mike Olmsted, who was charged with his first blown save of the season. Tommy La Stella delivered the second of his two sacrifice flies to tie the game at three, driving in Matt Lipka, who contributed three hits in the opener. Meanwhile, Nick Ahmed went 4-for-4 with two doubles and a triple. Shannon Wilkerson mustered a pair of extra-base hits for the Sox, but Salem managed just six hits in the 11 innings, including none (0-for-6) with runners in scoring position.

As it turns out, those half-dozen hits in the opener were six more that Salem collected in the nightcap. Northcraft pitched around a hit-batter and a walk in the first, another walk in the second, and a fielding error by Hillcats third baseman Matt Weaver in the fourth. The 22-year-old righthander struck out multiple batters in four different innings while also inducing eight ground balls. Defensively, shortstop Nick Ahmed made two tough plays going to his right in the sixth inning to take possible hits away from Wilkerson and Heiker Meneses.

Offensively, Lynchburg scored single tallies in the third, fourth, and fifth innings to score all the runs it needed. Lipka's RBI single broke the scoreless draw in the last of the third, while La Stella belted a towering solo homer in the fourth to double the Hillcat lead to 2-0. An unearned run in the fifth created a wider, albeit inconsequential, gap between the two clubs.

In the top of the seventh, Northcraft struck out Jacobs and Xander Bogaerts before inducing Almanzar's ground-out to complete the no-hitter, the second in the Carolina League this season, but the first accomplished by solely an individual pitcher. Northcraft retired the final 10 and 16 of the last 17 Sox batters, with the only baserunner in the final five innings coming when Bogaerts reached on Weaver's error.

Off to an 0-2 start to begin the second half, the Salem Sox will look to avoid a three-game sweep at the hands of the Hillcats in Saturday's series finale at City Stadium. Matt Barnes, the leader in ERA across minor league baseball, will make his ninth Carolina League start, while Dimaster Delgado is expected to be on the mound for Lynchburg.