Lynchburg Hillcats Score Early, Often in 9-3 Series Finale Win Over the Wilmington Blue Rocks

MLN Newswire - www.mlntherawfeed.com –

Lynchburg, VA – For the second night in a row, the Lynchburg Hillcats stormed to an early lead and handily defeated the Wilmington Blue Rocks (50-52, 15-17) at City Stadium.  Southpaw Paul Mildren was assaulted for five two-out runs during the first inning of Wednesday night’s series finale as the ‘Cats forged a split of the four-game set and worked their lead for the wild card in the Carolina League’s Northern Division back to 1.5 games.  The contest was delayed 37 minutes at the start and was finally called with one out in the bottom of the fifth due to heavy rain that led to poor field conditions. 

Wilmington took the game’s initial lead with a run in the first against former first-round draft pick Brad Lincoln.  Derrick Robinson led off the game with a single and then took second on his league-leading 48^th stolen base of the season.  Three batters later, Cody Strait cracked a single up the middle to plate Robinson from third to give the Rocks a 1-0 edge.

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But, a night after scoring four times in the first en route to a runaway victory, the Hillcats answered Wilmington’s challenge once again with a five-run haymaker in their half of the first.  Lynchburg loaded the bases to begin the frame, but Mildren collected himself and logged back-to-back strikeouts of league home-run leader Jamie Romak and Kent Sakamoto.  But, Miles Durham tagged a payoff pitch up the middle during the next at-bat to plate a pair of runners and give the ‘Cats the lead.  Jared Keel then slugged a three-run bomb deep over the left-field wall to complete the impressive opening-inning burst.   

The Rocks got a run back in the second when Anthony Seratelli tripled with one out and came home on a Matt Morizio grounder to first.  Lynchburg, however, built another two runs against Mildren in the fourth to pull away once again.  And, again, the ‘Cats did it with two outs, as consecutive doubles by Jose De Los Santos, Alex Presley and Jim Negrych equaled a pair of tallies and a 7-2 lead for the home team. 

Mildren (0-4) wound up with his shortest outing as a Blue Rock, lasting just 3.2 innings and letting up seven runs on 10 hits.   

Another Wilmington run came across in the fifth when Robinson followed Brett Bigler’s one-out triple with a double deep to center, scaling the deficit back to 7-3.   

In the bottom of the fifth, the Hillcats levied one last attack, this time against reliever Russ Haltiwanger.  A steady rain began to fall when the inning began and only intensified as the ‘Cats got cooking.  Durham singled ahead of Keel’s second dinger of the game - a mammoth shot that towered well above the fence in left field.  Chris Jones doubled to left-center thereafter, nearly causing outfielders Bigler and Robinson to wipe out in the wet conditions.  That, plus the worsening downpour, made play unfeasible moving forward.  Action was halted and then finally called after a half-hour delay. 

Lincoln (1-1) picked up the victory in his City Stadium debut.  The Pittsburgh Pirates drafted Lincoln out of the University of Houston with the fourth-overall selection in the 2006 June draft.  The right-hander allowed three runs on six hits over five frames with three strikeouts in his second start since being promoted from Low-A Hickory on July 16.  The 23-year-old missed all of last season after undergoing Tommy John surgery. 

The Blue Rocks concluded their seven-game road trip with a 4-3 mark and, following an off day Thursday, will head back to Frawley Stadium for a brief three-game homestand against the Kinston Indians.  Wilmington righty Mario Santiago (7-6, 3.96) and Kinston southpaw Shawn Nottingham (1-1, 2.79) are the scheduled starters in Friday’s 7:05 p.m. opener. 

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A scary moment occurred in the first when Chris Jones came to bat following Keel’s home run.  Jones popped a ball in back of home plate that Wilmington catcher Jeff Howell hotly pursued towards the backstop.  The ball eluded the field’s confines and Howell, with his eyes fixed skyward, bumped the wall and went face-first into a padded railing.  After going down in considerable pain and receiving attention from both training staffs, Howell rose under his own power and was escorted off the field and out of the game.  The extent of his injury was uncertain. 

Brad Correll went 0-for-3 with a strikeout, bringing his 13-game hitting streak to a close.  The former Lynchburg Hillcat batted .451 (23-51) with eight doubles, five homers and 14 RBIs during the impressive stretch.

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