Ryan Gebhardt’s walk-off completes comeback as Mudcats defeat Hillcats 4-3
Carolina used an infield hit and two bloop singles to score the decisive run in the ninth inning Friday night to knock off Lynchburg 4-3 at Five County Stadium. All three of the Hillcats’ RBIs came with two outs, but Lynchburg suffered its fourth straight defeat to extend its longest losing streak of the year.
Carolina scored the first run of the game on back-to-back two-out doubles in the first inning by Joey Meneses and Joe Odom. Lynchburg answered with a run in the third and two in the fourth to take a 3-1 lead.
In the third, Greg Allen singled with two outs and advanced to second on a fielding error by the right fielder. Yu-Cheng Chang drove him in with a double to left field to tie the game, 1-1.
Lynchburg again had the bases empty with two outs in the fifth inning, but Allen started another rally when he was hit by a pitch. Chang singled, and a double steal by Allen and Chang put two runners in scoring position. Anthony Santander drove in both Allen and Chang on a two-out single to give Lynchburg a 3-1 advantage.
Joey Meneses has long tormented Hillcats pitching, dating back to last season. In the sixth inning, he did it again with a two-run homer off Cameron Hill that drove in Joseph Daris to tie the score at 3.
With Friday night’s game included, Meneses is 30-75 (.400) with 11 doubles, a triple and two home runs against the Hillcats in 20 career games for a slugging percentage of .653. His career batting average against the rest of the Carolina League is .238 (103-432).
After suffering two last-at-bat defeats against Salem earlier in the week, the Hillcats endured another Fridy against Carolina. Joe Odom hit a groundball single up the middle that Chang fielded from shortstop, but he had no play at first. Stephen Gaylor entered as a pinch runner. Braxton Davidson hit a looping single to right-center field to push Gaylorto third. With two outs, Ryan Gebhardt hit a bloop single that barely landed in front of the diving right fielder Mike Papito score Gaylor and end the game, 4-3.
Raymar Navarro (2-1) earned the win with two innings of scoreless relief out of the bullpen for Carolina. Cole Sulser(1-1) suffered the loss after giving up the winning run on three hits. He struck out four in 1 1/3 innings.
Friday’s box score
Lynchburg Hillcats | ab | r | h | bi |
Allen, CF | 4 | 2 | 1 | 0 |
Chang, SS | 4 | 1 | 2 | 1 |
Santander, DH | 4 | 0 | 1 | 2 |
Bradley, 1B | 3 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
Papi, RF | 3 | 0 | 2 | 0 |
Paulino, LF | 1 | 0 | 1 | 0 |
Loopstok, LF | 3 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
Hendrix, 3B | 4 | 0 | 1 | 0 |
Salters, C | 4 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
Bautista, 2B | 4 | 0 | 1 | 0 |
Totals | 34 | 3 | 9 | 3 |
Carolina Mudcats | ab | r | h | bi |
Daris, LF | 3 | 1 | 0 | 0 |
Curcio, CF | 4 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
Meneses, 1B | 3 | 2 | 2 | 2 |
Odom, DH | 4 | 0 | 2 | 1 |
Gaylor, PR | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 |
Edgerton, 3B | 4 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
Davidson, RF | 4 | 0 | 2 | 0 |
Gebhardt, SS | 3 | 0 | 1 | 1 |
Murphy, C | 3 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
Mendez, 2B | 3 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
Totals | 31 | 4 | 7 | 4 |
Lynchburg | 001 | 020 | 000 | — | 3 | 9 | 0 |
Carolina | 100 | 002 | 001 | — | 4 | 7 | 1 |
E — Davidson. DP–Lynchburg 2, Carolina 1. LOB–Lynchburg 7, Carolina 4. 2B–Chang, Meneses, Odom, Davidson. HR—.Meneses (4). SB–Allen (20), Chang (3).
Lynchburg IP | H | R | ER | BB | SO | |
Lugo | 5 1/3 | 3 | 2 | 2 | 2 | 5 |
Hill (BS, 2) | 1 2/3 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 |
Sulser (L, 1-1) | 1 2/3 | 3 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 4 |
Carolina IP | H | R | ER | BB | SO | |
Parsons | 5 | 6 | 3 | 3 | 0 | 4 |
Bird | 2 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 1 |
Navarro (W, 2-1) | 2 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 4 |
This story was originally published May 13, 2016 at 11:30 PM with the headline "Ryan Gebhardt’s walk-off completes comeback as Mudcats defeat Hillcats 4-3."