Hillcats Knock of FredNats in Walk-Off Fashion

In a back-and-forth ballgame, the Lynchburg Hillcats delivered a dramatic victory over the Fredericksburg Nationals 7-6 in extra innings on Friday night.

Lynchburg led all the way until the eighth inning when the Nationals would put a three-spot on the board to jump out in front. The Hillcats would tie things up in the ninth to force extra innings where Angel Zarate delivered the biggest hit of his Hillcat career.

It did not take long for the Hillcats to take the lead. Angel Genao would put Lynchburg in front with a double off the left field wall to give them a one-run advantage. With the bases loaded later in the inning, Robert Lopez would draw a walk to bring one more home.

In the fourth, Pres Cavenaugh would deliver his third home run off the season. His blast drilled the videoboard in right field to extend the Hillcats lead to three.

The Nationals would begin their climb back as Elijah Nunez would drive a run home in the bottom of the fifth. In the sixth, Marcus Brown delivered an RBI single of his own to cut the deficit down to one.

Lynchburg would hold Fredericksburg quiet in the seventh before Maxwell Romero Jr. would drive home the tying run early in the ninth inning. Later in the inning, Brown would continue to be a thorn in the side of the Hillcats as he delivered another RBI single. After a pitching change, Lynchburg would balk home the final run of the inning before an outstanding diving play by Lexer Saduy prevented the game from getting away from Lynchburg.

Lynchburg would respond in the bottom of the inning on a slow roller from Angel Zarate that scored Pres Cavenaugh from third. In the ninth, Genao would open the inning with a line-drive down the right field line before Juan Benjamin would drive him home to tie the game at five.

Fredericksburg would get out of the inning to force extras where they would score in the top of the tenth. Roismar Quintana would open the inning with a line drive single to right that scored Andrew Pinckney to give the FredNats the lead.

The Hillcats would enter the bottom of the tenth down by one before getting Tyresse Turner aboard to put runners at the corners. Turner would swipe second to put two runners in scoring position for Angel Zarate. He would deliver with a liner over the head of the first baseman to score both runners and win the game.

For Lynchburg, it was only their second extra innings victory on the year.

Lynchburg and Fredericksburg will square off again on Saturday night at 6:30 p.m. at Bank of the James Stadium.