Frederick Keys Firsts Make for 10-4 Smackdown of Lynchburg Hillcats - Adv A, Carolina League

MLN Newswire - www.mlntherawfeed.com - It was a night of firsts for the Keys. Zach Clark picked up his first Carolina League win, Justin Johnson hit his first Carolina League homerun, and Frederick won the first of a four-game set against the Lynchburg Hillcats, 10-4.

 

The Hillcats jumped on the board early. With two men down in the top half of the first inning, Clark issued a two-out walk to Jim Negrych. Back-to-back singles from Jamie Romak and Steve Lerud scored Negrych, giving Lynchburg a 1-0 advantage.

 

That was the only run Clark would allow. The right-hander threw five innings, allowing one earned run on four hits.

 

The Frederick offense put Clark in position to get the win. Billy Rowell led off the bottom of the fourth inning with a double. With the count 3-0, Paul Winterling took a fastball high for ball four. The pitch skipped off the catcher Lerud's glove and went to the backstop. Rowell advanced to third. With runners on the corners, Ryan McCarthy grounded into a fielder's choice, scoring Rowell, and tying the game at one.

 

Johnson then stepped to the plate, and drove a 1-2 offering from Lynchburg starter Tony Watson over the wall in right, for his first homerun in the Carolina League. The round-tripper gave the Keys a 3-1 lead.

 

Frederick tacked on another run in the fifth. Chris Amador led off the inning with a double, advanced to third on a Brandon Snyder flyout, and scored on a Todd Davison sac fly.

 

With the score 4-1, right-hander J.P. Martinez came in to pitch the top of the sixth. He allowed a leadoff single to Lerud. He advanced to second on a wild pitch, and eventually scored on an error on Snyder, pulling Lynchburg to within 2.

 

The Keys led off the bottom of the sixth with another double, this time from Paul Winterling. He scored on a Miguel Abreu single giving the Keys a 5-2 lead.

 

Frederick's offense exploded in the bottom of the seventh. Snyder led things off with a solo homerun, his third of the season. The Keys would send eight more batters to the plate, scoring four more runs, making the score 10-2.

 

Lynchburg tacked on a couple more runs in the eighth, but it wasn't enough. With his first Carolina League win, Clark improved to 1-0. Watson drops to 3-5, and 0-3 against the Keys.

 

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