CarL1 Wilmington Blue Rocks

Wilmington Outlasts Lynchburg in 13 Innings

Published on July 7, 2018 under Carolina League (CarL1)
Wilmington Blue Rocks News Release


Lynchburg, VA- The Wilmington Blue Rocks (39-45/8-6) played in just their third extra-inning game of the season and improved to 2-1 in games with bonus baseball by beating the Lynchburg Hillcats (39-44/10-6) by a score of 9-7 on Saturday night at Calvin Falwell Field. Wilmington eventually won the game in the top of the 13th after back-and-forth lead changes in the final five innings of the contest.

The Rocks kept the fight going and finally put the game to bed in the top of the 13th. With runners on first and second, Nick Heath hit a sacrifice bunt to move the runners to second and third with two outs. D.J. Burt lined a two-RBI single to left to clear the bases and put Wilmington back on top 9-7. Carter Hope got a ground out in the bottom of the 13th before Tyler Zuber shut the door with two strikeouts to finally end the game.

A cat-and-mouse game was tied at 3-3 heading into the tenth inning. Wilmington took the lead in the top half of the inning. With Gabriel Cancel starting the inning on second, Emmanuel Rivera lined a single through the gap in right to bring Cancel home and take back the 4-3 lead. The Hillcats extended the game by tying it up in the bottom of the tenth. Conner Capel grounded out to move Mitch Longo to third. Li-Jen Chu then hit a sacrifice fly to center to score Longo and tie the game at 4-4.

Wilmington started the 11th with Angelo Castellano on second. The shortstop advanced to third on a balk with no outs. After a Blake Perkins pop out, Heath smacked a sacrifice fly to left to score Castellano and put the Rocks on top once again 5-4. Lynchburg would not let this game go easily as they tied it up again in the bottom of the 11th. Jodd Carter started the inning with a deep fly ball to move Trenton Brooks to third with one out. Emmanuel Tapia then hit a sacrifice fly to bring Brooks home and tie the game at 5-5. Dillon Persinger popped out to end the inning and force a 12th inning of play.

The Blue Rocks gained the lead again in the top of the 12th. With Burt already on second, Cancel hit a ground ball into right to put runners on the corners with no outs. Rivera drove Burt in with an RBI groundout to make it a 6-5 ballgame. A Viloria single and Travis Jones ground out moved the runners to second and third with two outs. Rudy Martin smacked an RBI single to right to score Cancel and extend the lead to 7-5. The Hillcats were down to their last out in the bottom of the 12th. After an Alexis Pantoja line out, and an Ernie Clement fly out, Longo hit a two-run homerun to center field to level the game once again at 7-7.

The Blue Rocks will look to take the series advantage on Sunday, July 8 at 5:00 p.m. Wilmington will have right-hander Ofreidy Gomez (2-7, 4.06 ERA) on the mound. The Hillcats will send fellow righty Eli Morgan (5-2, 2.33 ERA) to toe the rubber. Fans can tune in with the voice of the Blue Rocks, Matt Janus on 89.7 WGLS-FM.

PEBBLES OF KNOWLEDGE:

Emmanuel Rivera had a big day at the plate on Saturday night. The third baseman went 4-for-6 with two doubles, two runs and three RBI. This is the 12th multi-hit game for Rivera and the third game where had three or more base hits. Rivera also extends his hitting streak to six games. He is now only two games away from tying his season-high hitting streak that he set back on April 14-22 where he hit safely in eight straight games.

With two stolen bases on Saturday, the Blue Rocks have now stolen 101 bases so far this season. Wilmington is currently second in the Carolina League in total stolen bases this season and sit behind the Buies Creek Astros who have 109 total stolen bases. Blue Rocks outfielder Nick Heath leads the entire Carolina League in individual stolen bases with 24 so far this season.

The Blue Rocks pitchers came out firing on Saturday night. Starting pitcher Jace Vines pitched for his fifth quality start of the season. Vines pitched in six full innings of work giving up seven hits, two runs, and one walk. The sinker-baller fanned three batters in the no-decision outing. Corey Ray came in to the game in the seventh inning for relief. Ray threw for two innings giving up no runs or hits and one walk while striking out one batter. Julio Pinto, Vance Tatum, Carter Hope and Tyler Zuber bridged the gap to end the game. The six pitchers used are the most in a game this season for the Rocks.

Check out the Wilmington Blue Rocks Statistics

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Carolina League Stories from July 7, 2018


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