Rallying Rocks Persevere in Extra-Inning Finale
July 20, 2018 - Carolina League (CarL1)
Wilmington Blue Rocks News Release
Lynchburg, VA - The Wilmington Blue Rocks (47-50 / 16-11) turned in a resilient effort to earn a thrilling, extra-inning victory over the Lynchburg Hillcats (45-51 / 16-13) by the score of 12-11 in 10 innings Friday night at Calvin Falwell Field. Gabriel Cancel drove in the go-ahead run in the top of the 10th with a sacrifice fly and also homered in the win while Emmanuel Rivera drove in four runs to help Wilmington's cause. The Rocks earned the series win taking three of four against the Hillcats and are in sole possession of first place in the Northern Division.
Tied at 11 heading into the 10th inning, Blake Perkins started the inning at second base and advanced to third on a passed ball to set up Cancel who lifted a pitch to center field to score Perkins to put the Rocks out in front 12-11. Tyler Zuber tossed a scoreless bottom of the 10th to preserve the victory after allowing the Hillcats to tie the game in the bottom of the ninth inning. The Blue Crew led 11-10 heading into the bottom half of the ninth before Lynchburg capitalized on an error by Wilmington and Dillon Persinger tied the game up with a sacrifice fly.
The Rocks rallied in the top of the ninth to erase a 10-9 deficit and take the lead. Cancel smacked a game-tying, leadoff solo home run over the left field wall to knot the game at 10-10. Rivera followed with a walk and was replaced by Vance Vizcaino as a pinch-runner before Meibrys Viloria advanced Vizcaino to second on a sacrifice bunt. After a groundout, Brewer Hicklen extended the inning with a walk to set the stage for Rudy Martin who delivered the go-ahead RBI single to centerfield to score Vizcaino from second to put the Rocks out in front 11-10.
Wilmington led 8-4 heading into the bottom of the seventh, but the Hillcats used a six-run bottom half of the inning to take a 10-8 lead. Trenton Brooks drove in a run on an RBI single to make it an 8-5 game before Jodd Carter drew a bases loaded walk to put the Rocks lead at just two. A run-scoring groundout pulled the Hillcats within a run before Emmanuel Tapia doubled home a pair of runs to put the Rocks behind 10-8 before they made their comeback.
The Rocks started the scoring in the top of the third inning when Perkins ripped a double to left field to score Hicklen to make it 1-0 before D.J. Burt singled to left field to plate Perkins to make it a 2-0 lead. Lynchburg answered with four runs in the bottom of the fourth inning on a pair of home runs. Persinger hit a three-run home run over the left-center field wall to put the Hillcats on top 3-2 before Emmanuel Tapia hit a solo homer to make it a 4-2 contest.
Wilmington authored a response in the top of the fifth with a five-run outburst. Martin slapped a double to left field to score Hicklen before Burt lofted a sacrifice fly to tie the game at 4-4. Two batters later, Rivera smashed a three-run home run for his fifth long ball of the season to put the Rocks back in the lead, 7-4. In the seventh, it was Rivera again who drove in his fourth run of the game with an RBI single to right field to score Burt who walked.
The Blue Rocks travel to Frederick to take on the Keys Tuesday, July 21 to start a three-game series. Righty Gerson Garabito (3-6, 3.91 ERA) will make the start for the Blue Rocks while fellow right-hander Matthias Dietz (0-2, 6.75 ERA) starts for the Keys. Fans can tune into the game with Matt Janus on the call on 89.7 WGLS-FM.
PEBBLES OF KNOWLEDGE:
The extra-inning game marked the fifth extra-inning game of the season for the Blue Rocks who improved to 4-1 in such games this season. The Rocks have played in four of those extra-inning games over their last 19 games with one of them coming against the Hillcats in Lynchburg on July 7 when the Blue Crew outlasted the Hillcats in 13 innings by the score of 9-7. Friday's game lasted four-hours and five-minutes which was shy of setting the longest game to go in extras for the Blue Rocks by 15 minutes during their 11-inning win over Frederick on July 11.
With the win, the Rocks continue their dominance over the Hillcats. The Rocks won the four-game series winning three of the four contests and are now 14-6 against their Northern Division foes through the first 20 games of the head-to-head matchup. Wilmington has outscored Lynchburg 99-88 during those games.
Nine different Blue Rocks had a hit in the extra-inning victory with four Blue Rock hitters having at least a pair of hits. Emmanuel Rivera smacked his fifth home run of the season and drove in four runs while Gabriel Cancel hit his seventh long ball of the campaign and drove in a pair of runs. Cancel has now driven in 38 runs over his last 34 games and leads the team with 58 on the season, surpassing his total last year of 49.
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