‘BIRDS RIDE SIX-RUN FIRST, SOLID PITCHING, TO VICTORY OVER ‘CATS

LYNCHBURG, VA – Riding the wave of a six-run first inning, the Delmarva Shorebirds coasted to a 6-3 win over the Lynchburg Hillcats on Tuesday evening at the Bank of the James Stadium.

In the Shorebirds (2-2) first road game of the season, they wasted no time in jumping out in front of the Hillcats (0-4).

Luis Valdez tripled on the first pitch of the game and Ryan Higgins was hit by the second. Darell Hernaiz then doubled home Valdez before Davis Tavárez brought Higgins in with a groundout. Isaac Bellony with a two-run homer out to left-center, his first homer of the season. After a flyout, Josué Cruz joined the fun with a solo blast out to center, his first of the season. Moises Ramirez kept the line moving with a double off the third base bag and then scored on a Brayan Hernandez single to cap the inning at six runs.

The Hillcats got on the scoreboard in the second on a Richard Paz two-run homer, his first of the season.

Lynchburg chipped off another run in the sixth. Carson Tucker walked to start the inning and after a lineout Isaiah Greene singled. Joe Donovan then skied a ball down the rightfield line which was dropped, resulting in an error with the ball subsequently bounding out of play allowing Tucker to score. With runners now on second and third, Dan Hammer coaxed a strikeout of Luis Durango before Thomas Girard came on to punch out Dayan Frias to end the last threat of the night for Lynchburg.

Kelvin LaRoche fired the final three innings of the game in scoreless fashion for the Shorebirds to earn the save. He allowed just two hits while striking out two.

Hammer (1-0) collected the win out of the bullpen for Delmarva with 3.2 innings of one-run baseball. Hammer walked four but allowed just one hit and struck out five.

Jake Miller (0-1) was tagged with the loss for the Hillcats after allowing six runs on nine hits over four innings, striking out four.

Bellony finished the game with three hits to lead the ‘Birds, going 3-for-4 with a two-run homer.

The Shorebirds and Hillcats go at it again on Wednesday, April 13 at the Bank of the James Stadium. First pitch is slated for 6:30 p.m. with Denyi Reyes (0-0, -.--) expected to go for Delmarva against Franco Aleman (0-0, -.--) for Lynchburg. Pregame coverage of the game begins at 6:15 p.m. with Sam Jellinek on the call on theshorebirds.com.

ABOUT THE DELMARVA SHOREBIRDS

The Delmarva Shorebirds were founded in 1996 and have been the Class-A affiliate of the Baltimore Orioles since 1997. The Shorebirds have won two South Atlantic League championships in 1997 and 2000 and were named the MiLB.com Minor League Team of the Year in 2019 after going 90-48 in the regular season. Based in Salisbury, Maryland, the Shorebirds are proud to represent the entire Delmarva Peninsula and have hosted two SAL All-Star Games in 1999 and 2011. The Shorebirds are owned by 7th Inning Stretch, LP, based in Stockton, California headed by Chairman Tom Volpe and President Pat Filippone.