CarL1 Lynchburg Hillcats

Hillcats Vanbquish Dash In Seies Opener

Published on May 12, 2009 under Carolina League (CarL1)
Lynchburg Hillcats News Release


Lynchburg defeated the Winston-Salem Dash in the opener of a three-game series at Wake Forest Baseball Park in Winston-Salem on Tuesday afternoon. The Hillcats overcame an early deficit and earned a 6-2 victory, their 13th comeback win in 2009.

The Dash drew first blood by scoring a run off Hillcats starter Matt McSwain in the bottom of the fourth. With one out, McSwain surrendered consecutive doubles to Greg Paiml and Jim Gallagher. Paiml raced home following McSwain's wild pitch to Salvador Sanchez and gave Winston-Salem a 1-0 lead.

The Hillcats answered with a four-run inning in the top of the fifth. Kris Watts opened the frame with an infield single and advanced to second on a throwing error by Winston-Salem second baseman Dale Mollenhauer. After Watts advanced to third on Jared Keel's groundout and Kent Sakamoto walked, Ray Chang delivered an RBI single to left-center field that evened the score at 1-1. With runners at first and second, Alex Presley laced an RBI single, which scored Sakamoto and enabled Chang to go from first to third. Chang scored the third Lynchburg run on Jordy Mercer's sacrifice fly to left field. Pedro Alvarez followed with an RBI single that plated Presley and gave the Hillcats a 4-1 advantage.

Winston-Salem sliced into the Lynchburg lead with a run in the bottom of the sixth. After McSwain hit Paiml with a pitch to lead off the inning, Gallagher ripped a double to left field. Following Sanchez' pop out to Watts, Brent Morel drove in Paiml with a sacrifice fly to make it a 4-2 game.

Lynchburg tacked on two insurance runs in the bottom of the eighth off Winston-Salem reliever Jacob Rasner. After Rasner began the inning by retiring Alvarez, Matt Hague reached on a walk and Miles Durham drove in Hague with an RBI double. Durham, who extended his hitting streak to eight games with the two-bagger, scored moments later when Watts connected for his second single of the game.

Former Winston-Salem reliever Michael Dubee tossed two scoreless innings against his ex-teammates to seal the Hillcats 6-2 win. McSwain (2-1) went 6.2 innings to earn his second win and Chris Cullen retired the only batter he faced to pick up his fourth hold. Winston-Salem starter Johnnie Lowe (2-1) suffered his first loss of the season.

Lynchburg's win coupled with Salem's 7-1 victory over Potomac gives the Hillcats (20-11) a one-game lead over the P-Nats (19-12) in the Carolina League's Northern Division.

The Hillcats will take on the Dash in the second game of the three-game series on Wednesday night in Winston-Salem at 7:00 p.m. Tune in to FM 105.5 KD Country for all the live action beginning at 6:40 p.m.

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Carolina League Stories from May 12, 2009


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