Big First Inning Downs Hillcats

The Hillcats fall to 0-4 after dropping game one of their series with Delmarva.

The Shorebirds won the game 6-3 after scoring all of their runs in the top of the first.

The Shorebirds struck early and often in the first inning, putting up six runs before the Hillcats even came to the plate. Luis Valdez led off the game with a triple before being brought in to score on the double from Darell Hernaiz. Two batters later, Isaac Bellony hit a three run home run to give the Shorebirds a 4 run lead.

Josúe Cruz followed suit two batters later with a home run of his own off of Hillcats pitcher, Jake Miller. One more runner would score in the first before Miller could get out of the inning.

From there, Miller settled down, not allowing another run in his four innings of work. He finished the afternoon striking out four and walking one.

For the Hillcats, they got the scoring started in the second inning when Carson Tucker was hit by a pitch in the second inning, followed by a home run to right field by Richard Paz. The Hillcats would knock Delmarva starter Ryan Long out of the game after the second inning.

The rest of the game was a pitcher’s duel as the Hillcats were only able to score one more run in the sixth. Joe Donovan hit a pop fly that was dropped and went out of play, allowing the base runners to advance, including driving in a run.

That was all the scoring for the rest of the game as Kelvin LaRoche shut the door on the Hillcats, pitching three innings and striking out two.

The Hillcats had dominate performances on the mound from Jack Leftwich, who made his season debut with three strikeouts and no runs allowed in three innings of relief. Yeury Gervacio also put in two innings and recorded four strikeouts to close out the game for Lynchburg.

The Hillcats now drop to 0-4 on the young season and will look to bounce back Wednesday evening in game two of the series with the Shorebirds.