Hillcats complete sweep of Woodies

LYNCHBURG, Va. -- A lack of offense spoiled a solid start from Jason Bahr in the Down East Wood Ducks’ (15-35 second half, 50-70 overall) 2-1 defeat to the Lynchburg Hillcats (29-20, 58-58) Sunday. Bahr tossed an Advance-A level high seven strikeouts over five innings of work in a no-decision.

The Wood Ducks were swept by the Hillcats as the DEWDs lost their fourth straight game.

The Woodies could not figure out Lynchburg starter Kirk McCarty, as the lefty went six shutout innings in his Carolina League debut. The Woodies only managed two hits off the southpaw during his work and three hits total for the game.

A leadoff walk in the fifth scored against Bahr for the only blemish on his card. He exited trailing after five innings as the offense went quiet. From the final out of the third until the seventh, the DEWDs went down 12 in a row.

Andretty Cordero came to the plate with two outs in the seventh and lined a screamer over the wall in left field to tie the game at 1-1.

The tie would be short-lived, though, as two passed balls on DEWD catcher Melvin Novoa generated an unearned run off Blake Bass in the seventh and turned out to be the difference in the loss.

The Wood Ducks offense was held in check as the Hillcats retired 18 of the last 19 batters of the game. Dalbert Siri sealed the win and his 11th save of the year with an immaculate (nine pitches, nine strikes) inning to finish the sweep.

The Wood Ducks are off Monday before returning to Historic Grainger Stadium on Tuesday with the Carolina Mudcats at 7 p.m.