Hillcats' Wilson overcomes early season struggles

The transition from college baseball to the minor leagues can be a difficult one, especially when a pitcher doesn’t get the luxury of settling into a groove against rookie-ball hitters. That’s been the case for Hillcats starter Justin Wilson, the winning pitcher in the final game of the 2008 College World Series.

Wilson was a horse during Fresno State’s deep run into the tournament, and the general rule is when a college pitcher goes that deep into a season, he’s shut down for the summer after the draft. Wilson got his feet wet this season against advanced-A hitters in the Carolina League, and the results haven’t been pretty. His numbers heading into Friday night’s start against Potomac: A 2-3 record with a 7.08 ERA in nine starts; 47 hits, including nine home runs, allowed in 34 1/3 innings pitched; a .311 batting average against.

Wilson didn’t look like a pitcher with such crooked numbers Friday. He didn’t allow a hit until the fifth inning, struck out four and battled through some control problems. Miles Durham’s second-inning home run provided the slimmest of margins, and Wilson and the Lynchburg bullpen made the lead stand in a 1-0 victory.

The Hillcats (31-16) moved five games ahead of the Nationals (25-20) in the Northern Division, winning a matchup of the only two teams in the Carolina League to consistently play above .500 baseball this season.

Wilson was a big reason for the victory. He deftly worked out of trouble in the second inning. With runners on first and second and one out, Wilson forced Sean Rooney into a groundout to short. Both runners advanced, and Wilson struck out Stephen King looking to end the threat. In the fifth, with runners at first and second, he got Danny Espinosa to fly out to left, keeping the shutout intact.

“The bullpen before the start, we worked on a couple of mechanical changes to try to keep me in the zone a little bit more,” said Wilson, who was 1-0 with an 8.78 ERA in two previous starts against the Nationals. “Even though I walked a few guys, I made pitches when I needed to. Followed up by a great performance from Harrison (Bishop) and R.J. (Rodriguez), and I can’t really complain.”

Bishop worked three near-spotless innings, allowing one hit and striking out four. Rodriguez walked the leadoff batter in the ninth (Dan Nelson) and allowed a runner to reach second after an errant pickoff throw. But he struck out King and got Dan Lyons to fly out to record his 10th save.

Durham struck the lone blow against Potomac’s Brad Meyers, who was excellent. Meyers, whose ERA shrunk to 1.72, struck out eight and allowed four hits in 6 2/3 innings. The one mistake was costly, a fastball up and in that Durham drove hard over the left-field fence with one out in the second.

“He was just kind of effectively wild up in the zone,” Durham said. “He had us chasing balls up at the letters.”

The last time Meyers struck out eight in a game, May 7 at Wilmington, he was on the right end of a 1-0 victory. This time, though the Nationals failed to generate any offense at all, finishing with just three singles and moving a runner to third only once.