Milligan Comes Through for 'Cats
June 6, 2011 - Carolina League (CarL1)
Lynchburg Hillcats News Release
Lynchburg, VA- After a wild series between the Hillcats and Red Sox in Salem last week, it was almost expected that there would be another close game between the two teams. The game didn't disappoint, and Adam Milligan hit a walk-off single in the bottom of the ninth to give the Hillcats a 5-4 win.
The Hillcats took advantage of a Salem miscue to score the first run of the game. With Adam Milligan on first and two outs, Joe Leonard hit a ground ball to shortstop James Kang. Kang tried to backhand the ball, but it bounced off his glove into shallow left field, and Milligan advanced to third on the play. The next batter, Geraldo Rodriguez, singled to score Milligan and put the Hillcats up 1-0.
Salem responded in the top of the fifth. Kang led off the inning with a double. He scored two batters later on a single from Peter Hissey to tie the game at one.
Lynchburg retook the lead in the bottom half of the fifth. L.V. Ware led off the inning with a double. Todd Cunningham sacrificed him to third. Andrelton Simmons then hit a sacrifice fly to center to score Ware. With two outs, Phil Gosselin walked after fouling off several pitches with a 3-2 count on him. Milligan followed with a triple to score Gosselin and put the Hillcats up 3-1.
Another Salem mistake helped the Hillcats extend the lead in the seventh. Ware was hit by a pitch to start the inning. He stole second base while Cunningham was up at the plate. Cunningham then bunted. The pitcher, Pete Ruiz, fielded the ball and made a wide throw to first. It rolled away towards right field, which allowed Ware to round third and score to give Lynchburg a 4-1 lead.
The lead held up until the top of the ninth inning. Blaine Sims worked into his fourth inning after relieving starter Aaron Shafer in the sixth. He allowed back-to-back singles to the first two Red Sox he faced. Andrew Wilson came in from the bullpen, and Salem manager Bruce Crabbe countered by sending pinch-hitter Matt Spring to the plate. Spring responded by hitting a home run off the scoreboard in left field to tie the game 4-4. The next two hitters reached base against Wilson, but he settled down to get out of the inning with the game still tied.
The blown lead set up a dramatic finish to the game. Cunningham led off the bottom of the ninth inning by walking. Simmons dropped down a bunt, and the throw down to first hit him in the back, putting runners on first and second with nobody out. Gosselin attempted a bunt of his own, but popped it up to first baseman Reynaldo Rodriguez. Milligan stepped up to the plate, and slapped a grounder that got out to left field to score Cunningham and send the Hillcats home with a 5-4 win.
The walk-off win was the third for the Hillcats in the past two weeks. Wilson (1-1) took the win in the game. Dennis Neumann, who worked the eighth and ninth innings took the loss and is now 0-2.
With the win, Lynchburg improves to 25-31. Salem fell to 26-30.
The series continues Tuesday night at City Stadium. Righty Zeke Spruill (3-6) will start for the Hillcats, and the Red Sox will send righty Ryan Pressly (4-4) to the mound. First pitch is at 7:05 pm, and the gates will open at 6.
If you can't make it to the game, the Hillcats On-Deck Show presented by Honda/Suzuki of Lynchburg will go on the air at 6:40 pm. Tune in to 105.5 KD Country or go to lynchburg-hillcats.com to listen live to all the action.
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