Hillcats take lead in Mills Cup series

The pitching has been fine. More than fine, actually. More like spectacular. In six playoff games, including a 9-2, Mills Cup Championship Series-opening win over Salem at City Stadium Monday night, Hillcat starters have allowed four earned runs.

“They’ve just been locked in,” Lynchburg manager P.J. Forbes said.

The problem, in the first three games of the postseason at least, was that the offense lagged far behind the excellent starting pitching. One swing of the bat in Wilmington Saturday changed that—Tony Sanchez’s tiebreaking two-run home run in the eighth inning. Since then, the Hillcats have put together clutch hit after clutch hit, and now, they’re two victories away from their first Mills Cup title in seven years.

The hitting was spread around Monday. The Hillcats had 12 hits—only Josh Harrison and Kris Watts took collars—and they hit 5-for-12 with runners in scoring position. With Lynchburg trailing 2-0 in the third inning and the bases loaded with no one out, Chase d’Arnaud attacked an Eammon Portice outside slider and sent it down the right-field line for a two-run double that tied the game. With one out, Jordy Mercer stroked a sac fly to give the Hillcats a 3-2 lead.

That was plenty of support for left-hander Justin Wilson, who continues to prove his big-game mettle. He’s taken the ball in the opener of both playoff series. He was on the wrong end of a 7-1 loss in the opener of the Wilmington series, but that was due to leaky defense. Three of the four runs he allowed were unearned.

Monday, he threw 96 pitches, including 70 fastballs. The velocity wasn’t there, Wilson said, but the command was. He struck out three, forced nine groundball outs and let his defense work behind him.

“We’ve got a lot of momentum, and we need to keep it going,” Wilson said. “There’s nothing better than playoff baseball. We just want to keep playing like we are and keep the energy up.”

Wilson hasn’t been ousted from the postseason since his Fresno State team lost in Game 6 of the San Diego Regional in the 2007 NCAA tournament. Wilson was on the mound in the deciding game of the 2008 College World Series as Fresno State beat Georgia, and he’s been the choice to start both Lynchburg postseason series.

Monday’s Game 1 was still plenty tense until the seventh inning, when Matt Hague hit a one-out home run to left and Alex Presley scored on d’Arnaud’s two-out, RBI single to left. In the eighth, the Hillcats knocked around the Salem bullpen, scoring four times, including two on Jose De Los Santos’ two-out, two-run triple.

“It’s the hunger to win it,” d’Arnaud said. “Everybody here really wants to win. It’s exciting. You can feel it in the air. We’re pumped.”

Sanchez’s homer Saturday was clearly a tipping point for the Hillcats. In their first 37 postseason innings, they scored four runs. Then Sanchez hit his blast, and everyone has followed suit. In the last 18 innings, Lynchburg has scored 17 runs.

“This game is such a game of emotion and momentum. Something like that is just a huge shot in the arm,” Forbes said of the Sanchez homer. “It kind of took the momentum away from Wilmington, and we’ve just kind of rolled since then.”

Left-hander Rudy Owens, who threw six scoreless innings last Thursday in the Hillcats’ 1-0 win in Game 2 of the Northern Division Championship Series, takes the mound in tonight’s Game 2, which will be the last game played this season at City Stadium. The series moves down U.S. 460 to Salem for the final three game, starting Thursday.

HILLCATS 9, RED SOX 2
(Lynchburg leads series 1-0)

WP: Justin Wilson (1-1). LP: Eammon Portice (0-1).

HOW THEY SCORED

SAL 2nd—Mike Jones reaches on 3B Josh Harrison’s fielding error; Tim Federowicz grounds out to short, Jones to second; Chih-Hsein Cheng singles to left, Jones to third; Zach Borowiak flies out to center, Chang scores; Ryan Dent flies out to center. Salem 1-0.

SAL 3rd—Che-Hsuan Lin flies out to left; Jon Hee singles to left; Anthony Rizzo doubles to right, Hee to third; Brad Correll grounds out to short, Hee scores, Rizzo to third; Mike Jones strikes out swinging. Salem 2-0.

LYN 3rd—Matt Hague walks; Alex Presley singles to left, Hague to second, Hague to third, Presley to second on LF Chih-Hsien Cheng’s fielding error; Jose De Los Santos walks; Chase d’Arnaud doubles to right, Hague, Presley score, De Los Santos to third; Josh Harrison grounds out to pitcher; Jordy Mercer flies out to center, De Los Santos scores; Jamie Romak grounds out to pitcher. Lynchburg 3-2.

LYN 7th—Tony Sanchez flies out to right; Matt Hague homers to left; Alex Presley singles to center; Jose De Los Santos singles to right center, Presley to third, De Los Santos out trying to reach second; Chase d’Arnaud singles to left, Presley scores; d’Arnaud steals second; Josh Harrison grounds out to second. Lynchburg 5-2.

LYN 8th—Jordy Mercer reaches on bunt single to third; Jamie Romak walks; Kris Watts reaches on sacrifice fielder’s choice, Mercer to third, Romak out at second; Tony Sanchez doubles to right, Mercer scores, Watts to third; Matt Hague singles to left center, Watts scores, Sanchez to third; Alex Presley pops out to third; Jose De Los Santos triples to left center, Sanchez, Hague score; Chase d’Arnaud flies out to center. Lynchburg 9-2.

PLAYER OF THE GAME: Hillcats 2B Chase d’Arnaud went 2-for-5 with three RBIs, and his two-run double with no one out and the bases loaded in the third inning brought Lynchburg back from a 2-0 deficit. He also stole a base.

TODAY’S PROBABLES
Salem: RHP Stephen Fife (0-0, 0.00)
Lynchburg: LHP Rudy Owens (1-0, 0.00)
First pitch: 6:05 p.m.