Hillcats sloppy but effective

Chris Humphreys
Published: June 28, 2008

It was a little sloppy, which matched the conditions on umbrella giveaway night, but the Lynchburg Hillcats rallied from a 7-3 deficit to pick a 8-7 victory over visiting Winston-Salem on Saturday.

Lynchburg (4-5, 33-46), trailed 7-6 but stepped up for two runs in the bottom of the seventh when centerfielder Alex Presley laid down a perfect sacrifice bunt to move pinch runner James Barksdale to second base.

Barksdale was running for catcher Kris Watts, who had singled with a grounder to centerfield to lead off the in-ning. But Warthogs catcher Billy Killian threw the ball into right field, allowing Barksdale to score.

Then Winston-Salem right fielder Salvador Sanchez threw the ball into the third-base dugout trying to nail Bark-dale at the plate, allowing Presley to score the winning run.

Kevin Roberts blew away the Warthogs (4-5, 34-44) in the ninth to pick up his sixth save of the season.

“We are not going to give in to anyone,” Hillcats manager Jeff Branson said. “We were probably more aggressive on bases tonight than we have been in long time and when you have guys that can run the bases you can put pres-sure on the other team.”

Lynchburg fell behind in the top of the fourth when Winston-Salem’s first six batters reached safely — the first five on hits and sixth on a walk.

The Warthogs scored six of their seven runs in the inning and had six of their nine hits in the inning to take a 6-3 lead.

However, the damage could have been much worse if the Hillcats had not turned a double play with the bases loaded and nobody out.

All six of the runs were charged to Lynchburg starter Jared Hughes, though only four of the runs were earned.

Hughes hadn’t allowed a hit in the first three innings.

“I really don’t think he pitched that badly.” Branson said. “He just lost his command that one inning.”

Derek Antelo (1-0) picked up his first win of the season by working 4 1/3 innings in relief of Hughes. Antelo al-lowed three hits, a run and struck out four.

“The guys in the bullpen — Antelo did a great job, and Roberts closed it out,” Branson said. “That’s what the guys in the bullpen are supposed to do. Come in, pick the starters up and keep us in games.”

Trailing 7-3, Lynchburg started its rally in the fifth when Jose De Los Santos led off with a walk and scored on Angel Gonzalez’s double.

Jim Negrych followed with a double to drive in Gonzalez and Negrych scored on Jamie Romak’s single to cut the Warthogs lead to 7-6.

Lynchburg nearly tied the game in the seventh when the Hillcats loaded the bases with one out.

Jared Keel flew out to right field and it appeared that Romak was going to score from third after tagging up when Sanchez’s throw sailed over Killian’s head.

But, Romak missed the plate when he collided with Killian and pitcher Randy Brooks backed up the play and tagged out Romak.

Romak went 3-for-4, including a two-run homer in the third inning. He drove in three runs and scored a run.

Presley was 1-for-2 with two runs and an RBI. His only hit was a solo homer in the third inning.

Negrych extended his hitting streak to 10 games with a 1-for-4 performance. He also scored a pair of runs and drove in a run.