Wilmington, DE- The Wilmington Blue Rocks (27-33) pushed their win streak to six games with a 7-4 win over the Lynchburg Hillcats (26-29) at Frawley Stadium. Khalil Lee hit his second home run of the homestand and his fourth of the season to put Wilmington on top in the bottom
Wilmington, DE- The Wilmington Blue Rocks (27-33) pushed their win streak to six games with a 7-4 win over the Lynchburg Hillcats (26-29) at Frawley Stadium. Khalil Lee hit his second home run of the homestand and his fourth of the season to put Wilmington on top in the bottom of the third and the Blue Rocks never looked backed. Wilimington starter Anthony Bender was stellar and tossed seven innings and allowed just two earned runs in a winning effort.
The Blue Rocks continued the early scoring trend of the series in the bottom of the first. After Lee doubled to left, Gabriel Cancel hit a bloop single to right field to drive home Lee and put the Rocks on top 1-0. Lynchburg answered in the top half of the second. Emmanuel Tapia hit a double deep to the gap in left to score Luke Wakamatsu and tie the game 1-1. The Hillcats took their first and only lead of the game with an RBI single from Dillon Persinger that brought Tapia home to make it a 2-1 ballgame.
The rallying Rocks struck again in the bottom of the third. With Angelo Castellano at third and D.J. Burt at first, Lee sent the first pitch of the at-bat all the way to dead centerfield to give Wilmington the 4-3 lead. The Blue Crew tacked on more runs throughout the contest. In the bottom of the fourth, Burt smacked a deep fly to left-center that trickled all the way to the wall for a two-run triple, extending the lead to 6-2. Wilmington added some insurance in the bottom of the seventh. Burt attempted to steal third and then advanced home on an errant throw by the pitcher to put the game out of reach, 7-2.
The Hillcats tried to spark a rally in the top of the eighth. Jorma Rodriguez drove in a run with an RBI groundout to make it a 7 -3 contest. Trenton Brooks added another tally via an RBI single to right to score Mitch Longo and close the gap to 7-4, but that would be the closest they would get.
Wilmington will look to keep their winning streak alive on Friday, June 8 at 7:05 p.m. against the Frederick Keys at Frawley Stadium. The Blue Rocks will send righty Ofreidy Gomez (2-3, 3.89 ERA) to the mound. Frederick will rely on southpaw Zac Lowther (0-0, 2.25 ERA). Fans can tune into 89.7 WGLS-FM to catch all the action with Matt Janus and Cory Nidoh on the call.
PEBBLES OF KNOWLEDGE:
The Rocks earned their first series sweep of the season and first, four-game series sweep since June 15-18, 2017 when the Rocks swept the Salem Red Sox right before the first half. The win also pushed Wilmington's season-high win streak to six games. During the six straight wins, Wilmington has outscored their opponents 38-23. The Blue Rocks are now 6-1 to start the month of June.
Khalil Lee blasted his second homer of the series in the third inning with a three-run home run to help ignite the offense for the Blue Rocks. It was his fourth of the season and he is now third on the team in home runs. The Rocks have also hit a home run in five of their last six games and 31 in 60 games this season. The Rocks are 18-13 overall when they hit a home run this season.
Second-year Blue Rock D.J. Burt continues his torrid pace at the plate after going 2-for-3 with a two-run triple, a walk and a run scored in Thursday's win. Burt now is tied for the team-lead with 13 multi-hit games and has picked up a hit in 11 of his last 14 games. Thanks to his pair of hits, he has his batting average back over .300 at .304.
