Melendez Leads Rocks Past Lynchburg

Three Hits and Three RBI From Catcher Carries Wilmington to Win

MJ Melendez fell a triple shy of the cycle in the Rocks' 6-5 win over Lynchburg Tuesday night. (Brad Glazier)

By Matt Janus

August 27, 2019

Lynchburg, VA - MJ Melendez  had a homer, a double and three RBI and then the Wilmington Blue Rocks held on for dear life in a 6-5 win over the Lynchburg Hillcats on Tuesday at Calvin Falwell Field. The victory was the Blue Crew's fifth in their last six games and

Lynchburg, VA - MJ Melendez had a homer, a double and three RBI and then the Wilmington Blue Rocks held on for dear life in a 6-5 win over the Lynchburg Hillcats on Tuesday at Calvin Falwell Field. The victory was the Blue Crew's fifth in their last six games and they have now taken seven of their last eight meetings with the Hillcats.

Melendez set the tone in his first trip to the plate. The 20-year-old Florida native erased a 1-0 deficit with his second-inning RBI-double to right. He added a two-run homer in the third and then capped his big offensive night with a single in the seventh.
The catcher was one of five Rocks to record multiple hits in the winning cause. Kyle Isbel, Brewer Hicklen, Tyler Hill and Dennicher Carrasco each added two hits. Cristian Perez put Wilmington ahead to stay with his RBI-single in the third. The Blue Crew equaled a season-high with 14 hits as a team.
Rito Lugo allowed two runs on five hits while fanning three over five innings to pick up the win for Wilmington. Lynchburg scored three times in the bottom of the eighth to pull within a single score, but Andrew Beckwith turned in a one-two-three final frame to pick up his second save of the season.
The Rocks continue their final road trip of the regular season on Wednesday at Lynchburg at 6:35 p.m. Fans can catch all of the action with the Voice of the Blue Rocks, Cory Nidoh, on 89.7 WGLS-FM.
PEBBLES OF KNOWLEDGE:
The Rocks lead the Carolina League with 57 games decided by a single score in 2019 and have played 78 affairs with a margin of victory of two-or-less. Wilmington is an impressive 53-25 in those close calls including 41-16 in one-run decisions.
Four has been the magic number for the Blue Rocks this season. Wilmington is 50-8 when scoring four-or-more runs in a game this season, while the Blue Crew are just 28-46 when plating three-or-fewer runs.
The Blue Rocks offense has caught fire over the last week-and-a-half. Wilmington had 14 hits on Tuesday against Lynchburg which marked the sixth time in the team's last 10 games it has managed double-digit knocks. On the season the Blue Crew have managed 10 or more knocks only 22 times and have won 15 of those contests.