Hillcats edge Mudcats 5-4 in back-and-forth battle

Lynchburg’s Yu-Cheng Chang broke a 4-all tie in the seventh with a solo home run off reliever Carlos Salazar and the Hillcats eventually held on for a 5-4 win against the Mudcats on Sunday afternoon at Five County Stadium.

Chang scored three runs and was 1-for-5 in Sunday’s game for the Hillcats (24-12). He reached on an error and scored a run in the first and reached via an error and scored a run again in the fifth. Carolina (15-20) had three errors in the loss, including two that were turned into runs for the Hillcats.

Chang’s home run off Salazar (L, 1-1, 1.20) in the seventh broke a 4-4 tie and eventually turned into the game winner after reliever Jordan Milbrath worked through a scoreless eighth and ninth against the Mudcats. Milbrath (S, 2) struck out four and allowed one hit over two innings while earning the save.

Lynchburg led 1-0 in the first, 3-1 in the second and 4-3 after the fifth. The Mudcats, however, managed to match the Hillcats each step of the way and tied the game in the first, second and sixth innings. Carolina never led in Sunday’s loss, but did manage to tie the game three separate times.

Nick Pasquale (W, 1-0, 6.23) earned the win, but also suffered his first blown save of the season after allowing a RBI double to Reed Harper in the sixth inning. Harper also had a RBI double in the second and was 3-for-4 with three doubles and two RBIs on Sunday.

Ryan Gebhardt drove in the first inning tying run with a single to right and was 2-for-5 in the game. Harper scored the tying run in the second and then drove in the third tying run in the sixth. Erison Mendez scored on both of Harper’s RBI doubles and was 1-for-3 with two runs. Keith Curcio also had another multi-hit game as he went 2-for-5 with a run and an RBI.

Max Povse started the game for the Mudcats and allowed two earned runs (four total) over six innings pitched. He walked only one and struck out a season high eight over his five inning and 81 pitch start. Salazar followed Povse in the sixth and left before the eighth with only one run allowed on one hit over two innings. The home run he allowed to Chang was the first that he has given up this season. Evan Phillips pitched the final two innings and struck out three while walking one. Mudcats pitchers combined for 14 strikeouts in Sunday’s game.

Left-hander Sean Brady started for Lynchburg and also left after the fifth. He gave up three earned runs, walked one and struck out five. The Hillcats’ offense provided run scoring hits from Mike Papi, Claudio Bautista and Paul Hendrix in Sunday’s victory. Bautista’s was a go-ahead, two-out, two-run single in the second off Povse.

The Mudcats left 11 men on base in Sunday’s loss and were 2-for-14 with runners in scoring position. They out hit the Hillcats 12-7, but fell short in game three of the series, while the Hillcats took a two games to one series lead.

The series finale is scheduled for Monday night at 7 p.m. in Zebulon. Carolina will send out RHP Ryan Clark (0-3, 6.53) for the game four start against LHP Justus Sheffield (3-1, 3.28).

This story was originally published May 15, 2016 at 11:30 PM with the headline "Hillcats edge Mudcats 5-4 in back-and-forth battle."