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Hillcats Rely on Explosive Sixth to Move into First Place

June 15, 2022

The Lynchburg Hillcats regain sole possession of first place after a 13-4 thrashing of the Down East Wood Ducks. The Hillcats (31-28) utilized an eight-run sixth inning to carry themselves to a victory over the Wood Ducks (28-31). Down East got the scoring started first as Alejandro Osuna led off

The Lynchburg Hillcats regain sole possession of first place after a 13-4 thrashing of the Down East Wood Ducks.

The Hillcats (31-28) utilized an eight-run sixth inning to carry themselves to a victory over the Wood Ducks (28-31).

Down East got the scoring started first as Alejandro Osuna led off the game with a single before working his way around the bases to put the Wood Ducks on top. They would not score again until the seventh inning.

The Hillcats were held rather silent until the fourth inning when they knotted things up. Joe Donovan would bloop a single into right field that scored Richard Paz to tie things up at one apiece.

Then in the sixth, the floodgates broke open and Lynchburg exploded for eight runs. The inning led off with Jorge Burgos getting hit by a pitch before Will Bartlett would single and Paz would walk to load the bases. Then, two more walks would extend the lead and keep the bases loaded.

Yordys Valdes would single home two runs on a line drive to center field to extend the lead to 5-1. The Hillcats were not done, as they would load the bases again for Dayan Frias to push the ballgame out of reach. Frias would hit his second two-RBI single in as many games.

Jake Fox would score on a pickoff error at second base and moved Frias over to third. Burgos would knock a sacrifice fly out to left to score the runner from third and make it an 9-1 lead for Lynchburg.

The Hillcats would give up three runs in the seventh as Franco Aleman would have his roughest inning of the night, on his way to picking up his first career victory (1-7).

Lynchburg would tack on four more in the eighth after loading the bases with no one out for the second time in the night. The Wood Ducks would bring out a Xavier Valentin, a position player, to end the inning, where he set down all three batters he would face.

The Hillcats now sit atop the Carolina League North Division with seven games left to play before the midway point. The Wood Ducks and Lynchburg will square off again on Thursday night at 6:30 at Bank of the James Stadium.