CarL1 Lynchburg Hillcats

Five Run First Paces 'Cats Fourth Consecutive Win

Published on April 10, 2012 under Carolina League (CarL1)
Lynchburg Hillcats News Release


Lynchburg, VA- The Hillcats picked up their fourth straight win, tying their best streak from last season,6-2 behind five first inning runs and a seven strikeout performance by starter, Aaron Northcraft. The 'Cats staff struck out 12 batters in total and surrendered two runsfor the third straight game. The Hillcats now have scored a total of 25 runs to their opponents nine.

Lynchburg's RHP Aaron Northcraft started the gamewith four consecutive balls to lead-off man, Jackie Bradley Jr. However, that was one of the few troubles he would face throughout the night. His counterpart, LHP Manny Rivera, couldn't say the same. Rivera didn't make it through the first inning in his first appearance of the season.

Northcraft started Bradley Jr. with a walk on four straight pitches, then--with Bradley Jr. at first--checked him back to first several times. With second baseman Sean Coyle at the plate, Bradley Jr. took off for second on a 3-2 count. Coyle looked at what he thought was ball four, but was punched out. Meanwhile, Bradley Jr. took off for second and was safe after catcher Braeden Schlehuber sailedthe throwover the head of second baseman Tommy La Stella. Bradley Jr. quickly noticed the errant throwand scampered to third base. Next up was left fielder Brandon Jacobs with a runner at third and one out. Jacobs couldn't keep pace with Northcraft's slider and went down swinging on a 1-2 count. Northcraft was able to escape the jam when an eager first baseman, Travis Shaw, swung at the first pitch he saw and flew out to left field.

Rivera's luck was not as fortunate. Center fielder Matt Lipka worked a walk to start the top of the first, followed by shortstop Nick Ahmed's single to right field. La Stella added a walk before designated hitter Evan Gattis broke the 0-0 tie with a sacrifice fly to Jacobs in left field,scoring the speedy Lipka easily. With runners at first and second, third baseman Edward Salcedo added a single to load the bases. Then, first baseman Chris Garcia got his first hit of the season with a rocket underneath the glove of Shaw. Trotting home were Ahmed and La Stella, hustling around the bases was Salcedo and--on an errant throw from Shaw on the relay from right field--Salcedo was able to score making the lead to 4-0. The hitting continued with left fielder Robbie Hefflinger smashing his first of two doubles on the night, which scored Garcia and gave Lynchburg a 5-0 lead. That would be the last batter Rivera faced. Salem brought in RHP Marco Duarte, who struck out Schlehuber to end the marathon first inning.

Each team added a hit in the second inning, but neither did any damage until the third inning when the 'Cats added a run thanks to Schlehuber's RBI single that scored Hefflinger from second base. That would be the last run the Hillcats would score on the game.

Northcraft cruised through the third andfourth innings, striking out three of the seven he faced. Then, in the sixth inning, Northcraft quickly retired the first two batters he faced before giving up a hard single past Salcedo. Manager Luis Salazar made a call to the bullpen and brought in RHP Caleb Brewer for his first appearance of the season. Brewer worked the count against Shaw but gave up a deep shot into center field, Lipka ranged back towards the warning track but never saw the ball and it bounced behind him and one-hopped the wall. Scoring from first was Jacobs and Shaw glided into third with a stand-up triple.

In the seventh, Brewer ran into trouble again with two outs. Designated hitter Adalberto Ibarra hit a soft double down the left field line. Right fielder Shannon Wilkerson added a bloop single that scored Ibarra to cut the lead to 6-2. Brewer was able to close the door on a Bradley Jr. fly out.

Righty Jeremiah Bayer easily got through the seventh, his third inning of scoreless work, before the Hillcats turned to a righty of their own, Andrew Wilson.

Wilson was electric in two innings of work. He sat down the first two batters he faced in the eighth and ninth inning with a mixture of pitches. The game ended on a line drive that had Ahmed climb the ladder and help the Hillcats improve to 4-0 on the season by a final score of 6-2.

Aaron Northcraft(1-0) got his first win of the season after going 5.2 innings, giving up one run onthree hits andthree walks, while striking out seven. Manny Rivera (0-1), earned the loss. He went two-thirds of an inning, gave upfive runs, four earned onfour hits to go along with two walks.

Game twowiththe Salem Red Sox is scheduled for Wednesday at 6:05pm.Gates will open at 5pm. Lynchburg will send RHP Cody Martin (1-0) to the mound for his first start of the season to battle Salem righty Keith Couch (0-0). It's a Win-Win Wednesday at Lynchburg City Stadium. Buy a ticket to Wednesday's home game and get a free ticket to the Hillcats' next Wednesday home game. The Hillcats' live radio broadcast with Erik Wilson and Mike Viso will come on the air at 5:40pm, starting with the Hillcats On-Deck Show powered by Honda/Suzuki of Lynchburg.

Check out the Lynchburg Hillcats Statistics

Share: Facebook | Twitter/X | LinkedIn | Reddit | Email



Carolina League Stories from April 10, 2012


The opinions expressed in this release are those of the organization issuing it, and do not necessarily reflect the thoughts or opinions of OurSports Central or its staff.

OurSports Central