'Cats Done in by Disastrous Fourth Inning
Published on July 24, 2012 under Carolina League (CarL1)
Hill City Howlers News Release
Lynchburg, VA- A disastrous nine-run fourth inning powered the Potomac Nationals to a 10-1 win over the Lynchburg Hillcats. Cody Martin was on the hill for all but one of the 13 batters in the inning, however, only one of the runs was earned because of three errors behind him. The loss drops the Hillcats into a tie for first place in the Northern Division
The final score doesn't really tell the tale of what happened in the Hill City tonight. It seemed that the night was going to belong to Cody Martin after two quick frames and the offense giving him a 1-0 lead to work with in the bottom of the second. It was Michael Spina who added his fifth RBI in just his fourth game with the Hillcats. However, that's where the cheering stopped for the Lynchburg fans.
The inning started with a routine ground ball being booted by Spina. A hit batter, fly out and walk followed the error before Michael Taylor came through with a two-RBI single to give the P-Nats a 2-1 lead. Two batters later, Manager Luis Salazar decided to play the odds and walk the lefty J.P. Ramirez to get to the righty Erick Fernandez. It certainly did not work as planned as Fernandez hit a ground ball into left field. Steven Souza and Taylor would score before a wild throw from Dan Brewer in left sailed over the head of catcher Braeden Schlehuber. Racing around from first to score was Ramirez and Fernandez reached third on the error. It was now a 5-1 ball game. Francisco Soriano added a single to score Fernandez and make it 6-1. Potomac batted around when Adrian Sanchez came up for the second time in the inning. Just like his first at-bat, Sanchez reached on a error, this time it was off Nick Ahmed's glove. The final blow was delivered by Jason Martinson when he destroyed a Martin fastball for his ninth home run of the season. The three-run homer made it 9-1 before Caleb Brewer came in to extinguish the fire.
From there it was a collection of Hillcats that would finish off the game with the Nationals adding a run in the top of the ninth for good measure. P-Nats pitcher, Matt Grace, would cruise through seven innings allowing just two hits after the marathon inning. Grace would hand the ball off to Rob Wort and Neil Holland to finish off the game.
Grace improved to 6-9 for his seven innings of work. He allowed eight hits that led to one run to go along with his three Ks. Martin (10-7) got the loss in the blowout. He went three and two-thirds innings, allowed nine runs, but only one was earned. Martin mixed in seven hits, two walks and four strikeouts, as well.
The Hillcats will try bounce back tomorrow against the P-Nats with the first pitch at 7:05pm. Gates will open at 6:00pm at Lynchburg City Stadium. Michael Lee (0-1) will get his second start with the Hillcats. Alex Meyer (1-0, 0.00) will get his second start with the Potomac Nationals. The Hillcats On-Deck Show powered by Honda/Suzuki of Lynchburg goes on the air at 6:40pm. Listen live to all the action on 105.5 FM KD Country and online at lynchburg-hillcats.com with Erik Wilson and Mike Viso.
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