Hillcats Sail Past Shorebirds

Lynchburg, Virginia – Josh Wolf extended his scoreless streak to eight straight innings and the Lynchburg Hillcats (18-16) took down the Delmarva Shorebirds (23-11) in the series finale at Bank of the James stadium.

HOW IT HAPPENED

• Lenny Torres got the start on the mound for the Hillcats, stranding two Shorebirds’ runners in scoring position to toss shutout frames in the first and second.
• After being sent down in order in the bottom of the first, the Hillcats came out swinging in the bottom of the second against Delmarva starter Ryan Watson. Andres Melendez kicked things off for the ‘Cats when he reached on a throwing error by Shorebirds’ third baseman Gunnar Henderson. Will Bartlett moved Melendez along when he drew a free pass, with the first run scoring on a sacrifice bunt from Hosea Nelson that Henderson overthrew. With both Bartlett and Nelson now in scoring position, Cody Farhat singled to left to tack on another run for Lynchburg. Watson finally got an out when Alexfri Planez soared a ball to right field, but the fly out gave Nelson enough time to tag up and cross home. Farhat was the final runner to score when he was pushed home on a crushed triple to right field from Angel Martinez. All in all, the Hillcats added four runs in the big lead heading into the third.
• Delmarva looked to respond quickly against Torres, who gave up back-to-back singles to Hudson Haskin and Henderson. A wild pitch allowed Haskin to score and Henderson came through on a groundout, but the Hillcats starter fanned the two in a row to end the inning and keep Lynchburg in the lead, now up 4-2.
• Hillcats reliever Juan Zapata (1-0) replaced Torres for the final out of the fourth, lasting an inning and holding the Shorebirds scoreless in just his second appearance on the mound for Lynchburg this season.
• Josh Wolf finished out the game for the Hillcats, earning his first career save and sending down the Shorebirds in order twice. The performance was the second straight shoutout outing for the 2nd round pick in a row.
• The Hillcats added some insurance in the bottom of the eighth when Alexfri Planez smashed a double that brought Farhat home and the Hillcats secured a 5-2 victory in game five of a five game series.

WHO'S NEXT

The Hillcats have the day off on Monday and start a twelve game road trip on Tuesday with a matchup in Fredericksburg at 7:05pm.