Once again, a slow start couldn’t derail the Hillcats.
Lynchburg rallied from a three-run deficit Monday in Frederick and beat the Keys 5-3 to keep its five-game lead in the Carolina League North intact.
Jared Keel and Matt Hague homered for the Hillcats, and Michael Dubee threw two im-pressive innings in relief, recording all six of his outs via strikeout and allowing just one baserunner to pick up his fifth save.
Paul Mildren pitched well enough to keep the Hillcats in the game, allowing three earned runs in five innings.
Lynchburg staked Mildren to the lead with three runs in the fifth and two more in the sixth.
Keel’s solo home run got the Hillcats on the board, and Jordy Mercer’s two-out, two-run single scored Maiko Loyola and Alex Presley to tie the game at 3 in the fifth.
Mildren got through the bottom of the fifth unscathed. Hague gave the Hillcats the lead in the sixth with a leadoff home run, and Presley’s two-out single pushed the lead to 5-3.
Frederick managed just one baserunner the rest of the way, with Caleb Joseph reaching on a two-out single in the ninth. Dubee struck out Billy Rowell after that to end the game.
The teams meet against to-night in Maryland. The Hillcats send RHP Matt McSwain (5-1, 3.54) to the mound to face Fre-derick lefty Zach Britton (2-1, 2.45). First pitch is at 7 p.m.
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