Hillcats take two of three from P-Nats

The Lynchburg Hillcats did what they could to block the Potomac Nationals from reaching the postseason.
Lynchburg scored two second inning runs, two in the third, five in the fifth, and two in the sixth and benefitted from four Nationals errors to win 11-6.
It gives Lynchburg two victories in the three-game series. The Hillcats have left Pfitzner Stadium for the final time in the regular season and the Nationals now turn their attention to Kinston for four games before the postseason begins.
A question which remains is whether the postseason will include the Nationals.
Potomac must now win out and hope Wilmington loses its final four games to force a one-game playoff to determine who faces Lynchburg in the Northern Division series.
“We’ll see what happens,” Nationals starting pitcher Trevor Holder said. “We’re going to play everyday. I don’t know what’s going to happen.”
Expect Kinston to enter Friday’s game a focused club. The Indians are tied for first in the Southern Division and are bidding to win that division to lock up a postseason berth themselves.
“We’ve always been taking it one game at a time,” Nationals relief pitcher Patrick McCoy said. “We’re playing tough baseball everyday. But you can only do so much in a playoff race like this.”
Thursday’s game began in Potomac’s favor. First inning home runs from Michael Martinez and Jesus Valdez gave the Nationals a 2-0 lead.
That lead disappeared in the top of the second. Alex Presley’s triple allowed Kris Watts to score Lynchburg’s first run. The second came home when Presley scored on Jose De Los Santos’s single.
Potomac (76-57 overall, 39-27 second half) scored once in the second, but its lead again did not last long. Chase d’Arnaud scored for Lynchburg in the third on a throwing error from shortstop Danny Espinosa. A Kris Watts single scored Jamie Romak.
Holder rebounded by retiring the side in order in the fourth.
But Holder did not last past the fifth. He retired just one batter during the inning and allowed four runs. Jordy Mercer singled to bring home d’Arnaud. Josh Harrison scored on a fielder’s choice.
The blow that ended Holder’s night, though, was Watts’ two-run home run.
The blast gave Lynchburg an 8-3 lead and forced Nationals manager Trent Jewett to walk to the mound. Jewett removed Holder for left-handed reliever McCoy and Holder exited having given up eight runs on seven hits.
“They put the bat on the ball,” Holder said. “That’s part of it. [My pitches] caught too much of the plate. It happens.”
Holder did, however, throw 43 of his 63 pitches for strikes. He walked only one, but hit two batters.
“It’s frustrating,” said Holder, who took the loss to drop to 2-3. “I made some good pitches. I have to have better control.
“It happens where I have a good inning and then the next inning, I leave everything over the plate. I’ve got to get better.”
Kent Sakamoto was McCoy’s first batter. McCoy was one strike away from retiring Sakamoto before the batter took McCoy’s full count pitch over the left field wall for a solo home run, giving Lynchburg a 9-3 lead.
Potomac’s offense countered for three runs in the bottom of the fifth. Devin Ivany singled to score Valdez. Tim Pahuta’s single brought home Ivany and Brian Peacock.
That was Potomac’s final offensive showing. Boomer Whiting walked to lead off the bottom of the sixth, then stole second base.
Hillcats relievers Chris Cullen and Mike Colla combined to retire the next nine batters.
Espinosa doubled with one out in the ninth, but was left stranded as Valdez grounded out and Michael Burgess struck out.
While Potomac went down in the bottom of the sixth, the Hillcats added two more runs in the top of the sixth. Mercer’s sacrifice fly scored d’Arnaud. Harrison, who singled and went to second on a wild pitch, went to third on McCoy’s errant pickoff throw to second and scored when Whiting did not cleanly field the ball in center field after McCoy’s throw ended up there.