Hillcats Play Longball to Earn Extra Inning Win

FREDERICK, MD -The Lynchburg Hillcats broke a 4-4 deadlock with a pair of home runs in the top of the 10th en route to an 8-5 victory over the Frederick Keys on Saturday afternoon at Nymeo Field. Playing their first extra-inning game of the season, Keys arms gave up a season-high four longballs, as the team dropped its third straight home game.

Down to their final strike, the Keys tied the game in the bottom of the ninth against Robbie Aviles. Hitting with an 0-2 count, Aderlin Rodriguez pummeled a hanging breaking ball over the wall in left to even the score. It was his second homer of the season.

The tie game did not last for long. Papi opened the 10th with his second home run of the day to make it 5-4. Later in the inning, Jimmy Yacabonis gave up a three-run homer to Claudio Bautista to stretch Lynchburg's lead to four.

In the home half of the inning, the orange and black battled back, utilizing singles from Austin Wynns, Jonah Heim and Jay Gonzalez to pull the Keys within a field goal. However Cameron Hill got a groundball back to the mound from Josh Hart to end the game.

Besides providing his team with the go-ahead longball, Papi gave his team the initial lead via a solo blast in the second. From there, the Keys pulled even in the fourth against Sean Brady. With two outs, Wynns singled Rodriguez from first to third, before Heim tied the game with an RBI base knock.

Lynchburg regained the lead in the sixth on a two-run homer by Taylor Murphy, before adding one more in the seventh on a double by Dorssys Paulino and a single by Bobby Bradley. The Keys also plated two in the seventh, after Gonzalez singled home Erick Salcedo from second and Gonzalez scored on a sac-fly by Hart.

Yacabonis (0-1) suffered the loss, giving up four runs on four hits in 2.2 innings. He walked two and struck out three. Aviles suffered the blown save, but also got credit for the win, allowing one run in two innings. Offensively, Gonzalez finished 3-for-6 with an RBI and two runs scored, while Wynns went 3-for-5 with a run scored. As a team, Frederick posted a season-high 15 hits.      

Frederick concludes its four-game series with the Hillcats on Sunday afternoon. Left-hander Mitch Horacek (1-1, 5.40) starts for the Keys against Hillcats southpaw Justus Sheffield (1-0, 2.00). First pitch is slated for 2:00 p.m and the broadcast can be heard on 1450 AM The Source. For tickets fans can call 301-815-9939 or visit frederickkeys.com.